BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The eight-bed inpatient psychiatric wing at a new mental health hospital at Fort Harrison west of Helena is on target to open next month, more than a year after the hospital was completed.

The opening of the acute-care wing for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder has been delayed over the hospital's inability to hire enough psychiatrists.

VA Montana's interim director Steve Young tells The Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/QF1BFc ) the plan is to open the unit using a recently hired psychiatrist, the hospital's outpatient psychiatrist and two psychiatric nurse practitioners with support from on-call psychiatrists at the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center.

The hospital is still searching for two psychiatrists.

The $7 million hospital completed in July 2011 also has an eight-bed substance abuse wing and eight beds for veterans with less severe cases of PTSD.

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Information from: Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com