North Texas State Hospital Case Study

The North Texas State Hospital has two locations one being in Vernon and the other in Wichita Falls. It is considered the largest state hospital in Texas serving over 30 counties. The Wichita Falls Campus provides general psychiatric inpatient services for child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric patients. Patients admitted to the state hospital are typically on a court ordered temporary commitment, 46-B commitment for competency restoration, voluntary or an emergency commitment.
Patients are not discriminated based on religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, age, or education level. All people have the right to psychiatric treatment. Only patients that do not meet criteria can be denied care. Therefore, patients who are lacking financial means are
Patients who are discharged from Wichita Co. will be set up with an appointment at Helen Farabee or a private Psychiatrist to be assessed and to continue their treatment. Patients from other counties will be discharged to the local MHMR. Other resources that are often used include nursing homes, assisted living, group homes, food bank, county jails and much more. Challenges occasionally arise when dealing with outside agencies and patients. Once patients are discharged some may be non-compliant with their treatment. Miscommunications and the lack of communications with outside agencies can also present a challenge. A challenge that the Wichita Falls Campus is concerned with is limited bed space. With increasing awareness of mental illnesses the number of patients seeking medical treatment is rising. As well as population growth in general giving rise to mental illness manifesting in younger people the need for larger facilities is greater. There are also more rare mental illnesses being diagnosed at earlier stages due to an increase in medical research requiring longer treatment and placement