BUTNER - State mental health officials said Thursday that they are finally ready to move patients into North Carolina's newest psychiatric hospital -- a project dogged by doubt, delays, cost overruns and safety concerns.

Opening day for Central Regional Hospital in Butner has been called off at least four times since November, when it was originally set to receive patients.

The facility is now scheduled to open by the middle of July. Patients are to be transferred from two aging hospitals set to close. John Umstead Hospital in Butner will be vacated first, then Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh.

In the past year, internal safety reviews have raised repeated questions about design flaws with the $130 million building in Butner, including places where suicidal patients might hang themselves or jump to their deaths.

In a concerted effort to change negative perceptions about the hospital, administrators invited members of the news media to walk through Thursday. Tours for mental health advocates, the families of patients and others will be held this weekend.

Michael Lancaster, co-director of the state mental health division, was appointed interim director of Central Regional last month. The appointment came after the resignation of former director Patsy Christian over a portrait she commissioned of herself using vending machine money intended to benefit patients.

Though careful not to concede that the hospital had ever been unsafe, Lancaster said today the delays had allowed time to make it safer.

"We've had lessons learned," Lancaster said. "This is the safest facility in the state system, and we will continue to improve after patients arrive. It will be a safer hospital in 12 months than it is today."

Hospital administrators have also had difficulty attracting enough qualified doctors, nurses and other professionals to the facility's rural location, which state legislators chose over an alternative site in Raleigh.

Lancaster said administrators would cover staffing shortfalls by offering overtime pay and using temporary employees, just as they have for years at Dix and Umstead.

Among the architectural issues now addressed are grab bars in patients' bathrooms. Safety inspectors said the bars could be used to anchor a noose made from a bedsheet or clothing.

State workers initially tried to solve the problem this spring by adding a steel plate below the bars, which are in the private bathrooms inside every patient suite. But that left sharp metal edges exposed and left a gap that a sheet could still be threaded through.

Workers have since added a second plate to cover the gap and filled the remaining crack with special "pick-proof" caulk. The result isn't elegant, but officials said they are satisfied it is now safe.

In other parts of the hospital, new walls have been added to cover overlooks in stairwells from which a patient might have jumped. Locks have been added to some bathroom doors so nurses can keep out suicidal patients or those who suffer from a condition that causes unquenchable thirst.

In a major reversal of policy, dozens of surveillance cameras have been added in restraint rooms and seclusion room and throughout the hospital.

The cameras, which digitally retain footage for weeks, could deter staff members tempted to abuse patients and could clear those falsely accused. Christian vocally opposed adding such cameras.

It was decided not to fix some other issues pointed out by the inspectors, however, such as hundreds of door handles that could be used to anchor a noose.

Steve Oxley, clinical director of the new hospital, said Thursday that the door handles did not offer a major risk.

"This is a large building and there are many things to think about," Oxley said. "We have gone through the list, and we think it has made the hospital a much better place, certainly a safe place."