The state Department of Health and Human Services is asking outside experts for help to improve its troubled mental hospitals and develop local plans for handling emergencies.

Delaying the March closing of two state mental hospitals -- Dorothea Dix and John Umstead -- for at least two months while an advisory group examines problems with the new hospital replacing them is also part of the plan that Dempsey Benton, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, announced Thursday.

The replacement hospital, Central Regional in Butner, has numerous patient hazards built in that could be expensive to fix. News reports in December described improper doorknobs that patients could use to hang themselves and potentially dangerous stairwell openings, among other problems.

An advisory group, appointed by Benton, will meet with the Central Regional hospital architect and program manager to review construction problems and the plan for moving patients from Dix and Umstead to Central.

"We have to restore the public's faith in our facilities," Benton said at a news conference. He said he does not anticipate that Dix and Umstead would stay open more than the two additional months, but he did not rule out the possibility.

The changes Benton announced go beyond the questions about Central to address broader problems with other state mental hospitals and the mental health system itself.

Changes that the mental health system started in 2001 projected that fewer people would seek help in state hospitals. But not enough community care is available for emergencies, and state hospital admissions have increased.

In the past five months, state investigators have found dangerous conditions at two of the state hospitals, and problems at all four hospitals resulted in threatened losses of their federal money. Broughton Hospital, in Morganton, lost federal dollars after a patient died and another was seriously injured in a fall. The hospital failed to report four deaths as required by state law.

Investigators faulted Umstead staff for failing to run a safe hospital when they found a staff member had beaten a patient who was in restraints. Another patient hit, choked and chased patients and staff members for days before her treatment team decided she needed close monitoring.

To let people know what's happening at the hospitals, DHHS will begin posting information on admissions, investigations, deaths and injuries on its Web site. The department's improved Web site will be up by the end of the month.

"We want to be open about our hospitals, so we are going to post all of the news -- good and bad -- on this site," Benton said.

Dorothea Dix supporters were disappointed that the hospital was not given a longer life, but others were pleased that Benton was looking for fresh ideas on how to improve care for those most in need.

Debra G. Dihoff, executive director of the advocacy group NAMI North Carolina, asked Benton last fall to convene a team of experts to examine how the state hospitals work. She is now on such a team, along with representatives from the UNC School of Medicine, the N.C. Hospital Association, and others. Among other matters, that group will review policies for handling assaults and restraining patients.

"I think we all really want some change," she said. "I think this will be the start of a better era."

State Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat who helps lead a legislative oversight committee on mental health, liked Benton's ideas. He has come up with a comprehensive plan to address problems that have worried legislators for years, she said.

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