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| Audit faults health care in county jails |
| By Oregonian |
| Published: 09/12/2005 |
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Poor management is plaguing efforts to provide care to thousands of inmates each year, according to a newly released audit of health services at Multnomah County, Ore., jails. Productivity, insufficient oversight of mental health treatment and outdated record keeping are also serious concerns, said the county's deputy auditor, LaVonne Griffin-Valade. Griffin-Valade told the county's Board of Commissioners on Thursday that problems bedevil the Health Department's corrections health division. Too little management is at the root of the troubles, she told commissioners Lillian Shirley, the Health Department director, oversees the division, which provides medical, dental, mental and addiction care to juvenile and adult inmates at the county's jails. Shirley told commissioners that the audit's findings reflected five years of steady budget cuts. To preserve front-line staff, many management and support positions were eliminated, she said. Commissioner Serena Cruz said Shirley has done "extraordinary work" in providing other health care services around the county. But she said having less to spend for corrections health should have encouraged closer money management. The audit examined health care at the county's two largest jails, Inverness and the Multnomah County Detention Center. Staff schedules were found to be out of sync with the hours inmates were available for treatment. And overtime procedures were not followed. The audit found that overtime costs more than doubled in the past six years. Last year, for example, one nurse worked 814 hours of overtime; the average annual overtime per nurse was 134 hours. The auditor plans to revisit the issue in 12 to 18 months. |
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