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Understaffing, inexperienced employees, underreported escapes, worries about patient safety-- all concerns from two former high-ranking employees of Holly Hill Hospital in Raleigh.

Former Holly Hill employees share concerns about patient safety, citing escapes and understaffing

Tonight for the first time, we are hearing from two former executives in the children's unit at Holly Hill Hospital about recent escapes from the facility. Thank you for joining us. I'm Gerald Owens and I'm Deborah Morgan. The facility offers inpatient mental health treatment for Children. Between 11 and 17 years old. We've been reporting on the hospital for years asking questions after a series of escapes since 2021. New Tonight, Wrel investigates. Heidi Kirk speaks with former employees only on Wrel who say they were asked to help cover up some of those escapes. More than a dozen former employees of Holly Hill Hospital reached out to us wanting to share their concerning experiences working at this facility. Now, we spoke to two executives with long histories in the health care industry to help us understand what's gone on behind these walls. The medication was used as a threat documentation. Terrible. I felt like all the staff was overwhelmed. Two former Holly Hill executives describing a system meant to protect Children that may actually be harming them. You painted one picture and then when you get in, we're protecting their identities as they fear retaliation. One of our first questions, how Children have been able to escape the facility so easily. They tell us it happens more than we've been told. Were you told to under report or not report escapes? I was encouraged to put them as found in unauthorized space. They say the staff is asked to hide escapes by using loopholes in language. So as not to turn heads from the Department of Health and Human Services, they're left vague, left up to interpretation. They both describe an environment that puts profits over patients and conceals the practices that happened behind closed doors, threatening medications, you better, you know, get in line or you're gonna get some booty juice, which is what they they called it. They both say these failures come down to one main factor, inadequate staffing. I think that was a big part. It was he had a lot of inexperienced people and inexperienced people need more training and you are giving the same amount of training to somebody with 20 years experience as you were to someone with 20 days experience. We asked Holly Hill in universal health services, the parent company, quote, will you provide us a statement addressing former employees concerns about instructions on handling elopements, staff training, patient staff ratios and a profit over patient mentality. In a statement, Holly Hill defended itself saying, quote to ensure patient safety, Holly Hill hospital is staffed regulations and staffing is reviewed routinely. UHS has not responded. These employees say the company is also part of the problem. Do you feel like universal is set up with the necessary resources for Holly Hill to run smoothly, in my opinion? No, in my opinion, no. So these employees left, if you push too much trying to make changes, you know, you're viewed as a difficult person and then, you know, the work environment, you don't feel it doesn't feel very welcoming. Heidi Kirk Wrl News Raleigh. Now WRL investigates interviewed the former employees for about an hour. You can watch longer segments of our conversation on wrel.com and our social media platforms. We broke this story with a push alert to your phone. So make sure you download the WRL news app on your phone or tablet to receive updates on all of our in depth investigations.

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