Hospitals are dealing with a growing number of mental health patients

A new report reaffirmed longstanding concerns by Brockton-area nurses, state legislators and mental health advocates about the burden that local hospitals face, boarding people who require proper behavioral health treatment while they wait for those services to become available, The Enterprise reports. Behavioral health-related visits to emergency departments in the Brockton area and other regions have increased significantly during the last five years, according to a newly published report by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. In the Metro South region, which includes Brockton, the amount of behavioral health-related visits to emergency departments increased by 33 percent from 2010 to 2014, according to the commission's cost trends report.