BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — An independent review of a Montana State Hospital unit did not find significant patient care deficiencies, but recommended changes in the unit's operations.

The review of the Spratt Unit at the hospital in Warm Springs recommended additional staff, restructuring and the potential use of an outside contractor to provide hospice services, The Montana Standard reported.

Accepting patients with “neurocognitive disorders,” including dementia, requires the institution to deliver skilled nursing care and inpatient psychiatric care, the report said.

Different staffing and regulatory requirements and philosophies of care are necessary for patients in the two distinct care groups, the report said.

“There is no clear solution to this dilemma, and it is not a judgment of existing care,” the report said.

The unit has "a significantly higher ratio of beds to staff" than similar hospitals in Colorado, Oregon and North Dakota, the report said.

The study also compared the unit's ratio of occupational and recreational therapists to those at 22 other western state psychiatric hospitals and found the ratio to be "approximately only one-third" of the average at the other facilities.

The review was commissioned by the state in response to a series of 2019 articles in The Montana Standard.