Staff Vacancies Drop at Two Hospitals

State officials say staff vacancies have declined at West Virginia’s state-run psychiatric hospitals following court-ordered pay raises. Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Duke Bloom had ordered the pay raises in an ongoing case centering on the treatment of patients at the hospitals. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Bureau of Behavioral Health and Health Facilities commissioner Victoria Jones testified that the number of patients also has declined at William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital in Weston and Mildred Mitchell Bateman Hospital in Huntington.