Fayetteville City Hospital Closing, Residents Being Moved

Fayetteville City Hospital and Geriatric Center will close indefinitely within the next 30 to 60 days, and its 72 residents will be moved to other long-term care facilities and nursing homes in the area, officials said.

The hospital is closing because of “the timing of finalizing a long-term plan for [the hospital] and the age and accelerating deterioration of the physical plant,” according to a news release from Washington Regional Medical System.

Fayetteville City Hospital’s website lists numerous complaints by residents over several years about deficiencies there. In 2011 alone, there were 17 deficiencies.

The website shows two mistreatment deficiencies that were corrected in 2011. Specifically, the hospital was deficient by not hiring “only people with no legal history of abusing or neglecting” residents; not reporting and investigating reports of abuse, neglect or mistreatment and not developing policies to protect residents’ property from theft.

The hospital has been subsidiary of Washington Regional Medical System for more than 20 years, the news release states.

“We will continue to be diligent in determining the best course regarding our range of services for seniors while assessing the feasibility of building a replacement facility over the coming months,” said Bill Bradley, Washington Regional president and CEO. “As we begin to transition our residents and assist our staff, we are grateful that our region supports several new long-term and residential care facilities that we believe can help serve as a placement solution.”

Washington Regional will give “priority status” in helping staff members transfer to other jobs in the Washington Regional system, according to the news release.