Patients stuck for days on stretchers, lying on the floor, arbitrarily detained: the Inspector General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty denounces the "« serious malfunctions » in the management of psychiatric emergencies in various hospitals in the Ile-de-France region, in « emergency recommendations » published on Thursday.
From July 6 to 10, its services visited the emergency departments of several establishments, including those of the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (Cochin, Robert-Debré, Necker, Pitié-Salpêtrière hospitals…), Sainte-Anne Hospital (GHU Paris psychiatry and neurosciences), and others in the inner suburbs (Delafontaine in Saint-Denis, Henri-Mondor in Créteil…).
They observed there "« serious malfunctions »"in the care of patients requiring psychiatric care, due to a lack of staff and resources, incompatible with respecting their rights"« fundamental rights«" , between "« Prolonged waiting in undignified conditions" , " arbitrary detentions " Or " disputes without a legal framework«" , details the text published in the Official Journal.
Disruptions in care
The number of psychiatric hospital beds is inadequate to meet growing needs and the situation is deteriorating: in the first half of 2026 in Ile-de-France, 3,957 patients with psychiatric orientation experienced a "prolonged" wait in the emergency room (+31.8% compared to 2025).
The average duration exceeded 39 hours in the second quarter, compared to 29 hours at the beginning of 2025.
In some of the departments visited, around ten patients wait each day, with a reported maximum of 27. Some can stay for up to ten days. At the psychiatric emergency room of Sainte-Anne, 60% are waiting…« more than 13 hours, 20% more than 48 hours“.
The inspector points to "forgoing care," to "« disruptions in care »and calls for finding« very quickly »" of the "« organizational, building, capacity and human resources solutions“.
Contention "without a legal framework"«
Patients« on uncomfortable chairs »"or stretchers in the corridors: the premises do not guarantee either the« dignity »" neither "« intimacy »"Sick people. Some are even forced to lie on the floor of the corridors at night, in "« the noise »and under the lighting« intense«"Access to hygiene is..."« limit“.
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Furthermore, patients who are to be hospitalized without their consent are being detained.« arbitrarily«"Legal procedures were not respected. Others are subjected to isolation or restraint measures."« without a legal framework“.
The controller calls for the establishment of "« an institutional policy on alternatives »"to coercive measures, to prohibit unsupervised isolation and restraint, and to train staff.
Finally, she criticizes the fact that many minors are hospitalized with adults due to a lack of child psychiatrists, demanding for them "« legal status and a child psychiatry rehabilitation plan“.
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