RALEIGH - The first patients were moved into a new state mental hospital in Butner on Monday, ending nearly a year of worries and delays about when the $130 million facility would open.

Tom Lawrence, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said that about 110 adult patients were moved to Central Regional Hospital from the aging John Umstead Hospital less than a mile away.

The patients were moved in small groups throughout the day in vans and buses.

"It went smoothly," Lawrence said.

About 100 adult and geriatric patients remain to be moved this week.

The opening of Central Regional was postponed four times in the past year because of concerns about staff shortages and potential safety hazards.

A team from the advocacy group Disability Rights North Carolina was on hand Monday to monitor the transfer.

"I am satisfied and encouraged that the move occurred in a safe, smooth and therapeutic manner," said Vicki Smith, the group's executive director. "We will continue to have a presence at the hospitals this week to ensure the safe transfer of patients to the new facility."

Planned as a centerpiece of the state's effort to reform its mental health system, Central Regional was designed to hold 435 patients -- 171 fewer than Umstead and Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, the two facilities it is set to replace.

As the reforms have failed, assurances the state would need fewer psychiatric beds have crumbled under the weight of lengthy waiting lists for treatment.

As a result, about 112 adolescent patients will remain on a ward on the Umstead campus indefinitely because there are not enough beds at the new hospital to accommodate their needs. DHHS has entered into an agreement with Wake County to split the cost of retaining 60 beds at Dix until at least 2011.

DHHS officials have not said publicly when they will transfer hundreds of patients from Dix to the new hospital, but internal planning documents have scheduled the second move to occur about two weeks after the one from Umstead is complete.

The 30-mile move from Dix will be more challenging. Aside from the distance, Dix also houses about 80 forensic patients -- those undergoing pre-trial mental health evaluations, those deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial or those found not guilty of crimes because of insanity.

Lawrence said DHHS staff will use lessons learned during the Umstead moves to apply to the future exodus from Dix.

"They'll assess how this move went and do some tweaking if needed," he said.