Psychiatric emergencies: "serious failings" at several Paris-region hospitals

Published on

10/09/2026 - 16:34 GMT+2

Patients forced to lie directly on the floor, others kept for several days on stretchers, or even detained arbitrarily, in conditions that guarantee neither their "dignity" nor their "privacy". In a report published on Thursday, the office of the General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL), headed by Dominique Simonnot, condemns "serious failings" in the handling of psychiatric emergencies at several hospitals in the Paris region.

In early July, its teams visited several facilities in Île-de-France, including Cochin, Robert-Debré, Necker and La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospitals, as well as Sainte-Anne in Paris, Delafontaine in Saint-Denis and Henri-Mondor in Créteil.

They describe care conditions that are incompatible with respect for patients’ "fundamental rights" in departments struggling with staff shortages, a lack of resources and too few psychiatric beds.