© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Court Master: State Psychiatriac Hospital Improves Operation, but Still Needs Oversight

Mal Leary
/
Maine Public/file
The Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta.

The court master who oversees the rights of mental health patients at Riverview Psychiatric Center says there have been improvements, but there's still some way to go before the Augusta psychiatric hospital is ready to operate without the intense scrutiny of a consent decree.

Dan Wathen has served as court master for Riverview, since 1990, when he was appointed as part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit by former psychiatric patients.

In a report covering the period from December, 2017, to July 31, 2017, Wathen says the staffing situation at Riverview is "much improved." But he says more psychiatric providers, and more psychologists, need to be hired.

Wathen also oversees other aspects of the state mental health system. In the report he says the state is making substantial progress in reducing wait times for services. But he says there's still a need for more providers to help patients manage medication.

And Wathen says he and the Department of Health and Human Services are working toward a situation within two years in which the state's mental health system could operate without his oversight.

Nora is originally from the Boston area but has lived in Chicago, Michigan, New York City and at the northern tip of New York state. Nora began working in public radio at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor and has been an on-air host, a reporter, a digital editor, a producer, and, when they let her, played records.