MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- Central State Hospital expects to cut about 280 employees in the next month while transferring out patients with developmental disabilities.

Tom Wilson, a spokesman for the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, tells The Telegraph of Macon (http://bit.ly/KiV8RP) on Friday that the last 16 patients should be transferred to community care by June 30.

Wilson says more jobs could have been lost, but 80 employees at the Milledgeville, Ga.-based hospital left on their own in the last month while the number of patients declined.

The hospital will continue with a forensics unit that handles about 182 people with mental illness, and a nursing home that cares for about 138 patients.

Patients with developmental disabilities have been transferred sometimes back to their parents' homes or group home settings.

AP-WF-06-01-12 1918GMT