BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — The closure of Interfaith Medical Center in Bed-Stuy will overwhelm psychiatric wards in nearby hospitals, according to a new report from the office of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
Interfaith is Brooklyn's largest provider of in-patient psychiatric care, and if the hospital closes as planned, there could be a domino effect on the level of care provided by surrounding hospitals, according to the report.
"A closure of Interfaith would be a grievous blow to psychiatric care in Brooklyn," the report says. "It would place Brooklyn’s psychiatric safety net dangerously overcapacity. It would deny access to psychiatric and quality mental health care based entirely on where a person lives, not the type of care they need."
According to de Blasio, 60 percent of all patients discharged from Interfaith have a psychiatric condition, compared to 27 percent in the rest of the borough. The 120 patient beds in the hospitals psychiatric ward represent 13.5 percent of the total capacity in the borough, according to the report.
The result, according to de Blasio, is that surrounding hospitals would rise from about 91 percent capacity to about 107 percent.
"This is a City responsibility," the mayoral candidate said in the report. "Mayor Bloomberg’s silence on hospital closures is untenable. Losing Interfaith would have a devastating impact on psychiatric care in Brooklyn and Queens, and threatens to overwhelm City psychiatric services at public hospitals already burdened by crowding.
