More than 200 times in the past year, police officers have had to drive a mentally ill patient from Northern Virginia outside the region to a psychiatric hospital because there was no room for them locally.

This is not because of a lack of physical space in Northern Virgina, according to local officials and advocates, but stems from a $1.8 million line item that was cut from Virginia’s $15 billion-plus general fund budget during the lean fiscal years of 2011 and 2012 — funding to support 19 inpatient beds at the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute.

The five Northern Virginia Community Services Boards were able to scrape together enough one-time funding to support 13 of the 19 beds in fiscal years 2011 and 2012, but that still was not enough to meet patients’ needs.

The CSBs are public agencies that provide mental health services, addiction treatment and services for people with disabilities.

The end result is some people experiencing psychiatric distress are “just not going to be able to access the care they need locally,” said Jeanne Comeau, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Northern Virginia Chapter.

The population in Northern Virginia’s service area is the fastest-growing in the state, but the region has half as many inpatient beds per 100,000 residents as other parts of the state, Comeau said.

The more recent cut in funding for psychiatric hospital beds is on top of the longstanding issue of wait lists for public mental health services. Someone who is ready to be discharged from a hospital or who is seeking mental health services for the first time can expect to wait six months before receiving services.

The CSBs also are uncertain whether they will be able to continue funding the 13 beds in fiscal 2013, according to George Braunstein, executive director of the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board.

They are asking state legislators to restore funding for the 19 beds. The “bricks and mortar” space at the hospital still is there, but the funding to support the services for the inpatient psychiatric services is not.

The status quo is not good for patients, their families or for public safety, Braunstein said.

Despite the fact that they have not committed a crime, patients who already are experiencing a mental health crisis have to be secured in the back of a police car for a trip — which that take as long as six or seven hours — to reach more rural destinations such as Salem and Staunton that have room to accept patients.

“It can only harm their ability to eventually stabilize. It can only add to the trauma that they experience,” Braunstein said.

The distance also can make it harder for family or friends to visit their loved ones in the hospital and to participate in family programs to support the patient’s recovery.

Being treated locally “makes all the difference in the world,” Comeau said. “Then when they’re discharged, they’re still connected with their local support network.”

The process also takes police officers away from their regular duties on the local level to complete the hours-long trips. Two officers are required to escort the patient.

kschumitz@fairfaxtimes.com