North Carolina’s beleaguered mental health system takes another tumble this week when the state closes historic Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh.

The closure is no tribute to state leaders, who just can’t seem to get a handle on mental health administration, much less a dismal revenue picture.

Is this move really necessary at this time? About 100 patients remain at Dix hospital, and it is not clear what will happen when the venerable mental health facility closes its doors.

The plan calls for some patients to be discharged, presumably to their homes, some to be transferred to other state hospitals, and about 30 minimum security patients to remain at Dix while officials figure out what to do with them.

New Facility Not Up to Speed

Examination of the mental health situation leaves little more than confusion.

Secretary Lanier Cansler, of the state Department of Health and Human Services, admits that he doesn’t want to close Dix at this time but says he has no choice with the steep budget cuts expected in the wake of another massive state deficit. It’s simply too expensive, he says, to continue operating the 154-year-old hospital and at the same time running the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.

Although the $138 million facility was supposed to provide a modernized replacement for Dix and the former Umstead Hospital in Butner, it is still operating at half-capacity and cannot accommodate all of the Dix patients.

The new facility has been plagued with problems almost from its beginning. Despite criticism of construction and design, a fire and a lawsuit, Central Regional is open; it just does not run at full steam.

Central Regional was intended as the first of three new mental health facilities included in a misguided 2001 so-called reform plan. The concept was to replace four old hospitals with three smaller updated facilities better equipped to meet the needs of today’s patients.

Needed: More Cohesive Plan

A major aspect of this reform plan was to admit patients to facilities in their own communities, where they would be closer to family and friends. A further change was the emphasis on directing services away from the local agency to private contractors. It may have been well-intended, but it didn’t work.

Moore County is blessed in many ways when it comes to mental health coverage. FirstHealth is a sprawling nonprofit with a history of excellent leadership. Sandhills Center, serving Moore and several nearby counties, has one of the best local administrations in the state.

Even better, FirstHealth and Sandhills Center have worked well together to cooperate when it comes to providing regional mental health services. Atop these blessings are local mental health organizations that are alert and aggressive in publicizing the need.

Alas, such is not the case everywhere in North Carolina.

Until the state gets its act together on mental health services, it is imperative to develop a more cohesive plan that will meet our needs today and tomorrow. In an ironic turn of events, North Carolina is citing a need for reform in its dubious decision to close a hospital named for a 19th century crusader for mental health reform.