HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 31
(By Delegates Jenkins, Leach, Smirl,
Hubbard, Johnson and Romine)
Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to make
a study of the Huntington Hospital and Governing Board and
the Huntington Hospital's Auxiliary.
Whereas, Huntington Hospital lacks the authority to limit
admission to patients who are medically appropriate and for whom
it can provide a safe environment and competent treatment and
the hospital has a readmission rate of 60% including some
patients who have been readmitted 6 to 17 times each; and
Whereas, Huntington Hospital's 2 admission units thereby
accumulate a volatile and potentially dangerous mixture of the
chronically mentally ill, brain damaged, geriatric and young
chemically dependent patients as well as court-ordered
individuals with criminal charges and physically separate and
specialized inpatient treatment programs are unavailable to meet
the special needs of these different patient groups; and
Whereas, The mixture of such patients exposes the State and
the hospital to undue legal jeopardy and its staff and patients
to unacceptable levels of physical, emotional and legal risks;
there are many patients, especially the developmentally disabled, who require and are ready for discharge to supervised,
structured community residences, who must remain in the hospital
only because of the shortage of alternative residential
arrangements; and
Whereas, Current pay levels and even increases recently
proposed by Division of Health and Human Resources and
authorized by the Legislature, while appreciated and helpful,
still fall short of what is needed to recruit and retain
professional nursing staff, reflected in a 21% turnover rate;
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is
hereby requested to review, examine and study the admission
units of the Huntington Hospital and Huntington Hospital's
Auxiliary, their nursing staffing adequacy and the need to
provide a safe environment and competent treatment for the
mixture of patients in these facilities; and to make
recommendations to the Legislature regarding the same; and be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government
and Finance report to the regular session of the Legislature,
two thousand, on its findings, conclusions and recommendations,
together with drafts of any legislation necessary to effectuate
its recommendations; and be it
Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct
this study, to prepare a report and to draft necessary
legislation be paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint
Committee on Government and Finance.