State inspection cites Suburban Community Hospital for closing down psych unit, even after the hospital said it didn’t

Suburban Community Hospital suspended psychiatric services for seniors without notifying the state in violation of patient-safety laws, state inspectors said in a report released last week.

Inspectors found the 15-bed psychiatric unit for adults aged 55 and older was empty during an Oct. 2 visit to Suburban: No staff were on duty, and the psychiatrist had resigned. Administrators told inspectors the last patient had been discharged more than two weeks earlier. State law requires hospitals to notify the state within 24 hours of any disruption to services that could compromise patient safety.

The hospital’s website still describes the psychiatric unit as “available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

» READ MORE: Nurses at Lower Bucks and Suburban Community hospitals return to work without a new contract after five-day strike

Hospital administrators told regulators they were “currently, actively” recruiting a new psychiatrist to lead the unit. The East Norriton hospital also planned to evaluate the need for psychiatric services for seniors at a meeting of its advisory board in early January.

The hospital is expected to update the health department on its plans for geriatric behavioral health services by Jan. 18, according to the inspection report.

Suburban and its owner, Prime Healthcare, have offered mixed messages to the community about its psychiatric services. Prime laid off about a dozen nurses who worked in the unit in September, but said the service was “not closed” and that the layoffs would not affect patient care.

“Geriatric psychiatry services at Suburban Community Hospital are not closing,” said Michelle Aliprantis, a spokesperson for Prime, when asked about inspectors’ findings.

Inspectors cited the hospital for failing to provide the appropriate resources for the unit, failing to formulate short- or long-term plans to develop the unit, and failing to notify the state as required by law when services are suspended.

Suburban is one of three Philadelphia-area hospitals that Prime appears to have put up for sale earlier this month. The California-based, for-profit hospital company also owns Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol and Roxborough Hospital in Philadelphia.

Roughly 240 nurses at Suburban and Lower Bucks Hospital represented by Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals went on a five-day strike late last month.

Nurses said Prime’s decision to suspend services in the geriatric behavioral health unit without telling the state speaks to their concerns about staffing and patient safety.

Carrie Walz, a nurse who worked at Suburban Community Hospital for 15 years, now worries that vulnerable seniors may not know where to get the care they need. She was laid off from the geriatric psych unit in September.

“It’s just not fair to the community at all,” she said.

In September, Aliprantis described the layoffs to The Inquirer as “a slight reduction in staff” and said that the unit is “not closed.”

“These changes will not adversely impact patient care,” she said at the time.