Psychiatric Hospital Looks for New Site

ENCINITAS —  Overcrowding is forcing an 83-bed psychiatric hospital here to relocate at an estimated cost of $10 million, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

The average occupancy rate exceeds 80% at San Luis Rey Hospital, situated off Devonshire Drive, “and when we get busy it gets difficult in terms of locating rooms for patients,” said Ann Herbert.

So this week, hospital officials notified the federally backed Health Systems Agency (HSA) of plans to relocate to a facility that is three times larger “near Quail Gardens in Encinitas--about a mile from where we are now,” Herbert said.

Herbert declined to identify the new site, saying that “we’ve just filed (with the HSA) and everything is very much up in the air.”

The new facility will have 163 beds, 80 more than the existing building, adjacent to Scripps Memorial Hospital-Encinitas.

It would offer “adult, adolescent, residential and substance abuse services,” according to an HSA statement. The HSA hasn’t taken a stand on the move yet.

The Statewide Office of Health Planning and Development in Sacramento must approve new hospital construction.

Encinitas area officials said they had been unaware of the proposed move.

“I’m sure we would like to review that” for possible community impact, said Jerry Steel, who heads the San Dieguito Citizens Planning Group.