“We know very well that the lack of means can lead to this kind of situation” analyzes Antoine Pelissolo, psychiatrist at the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil, after the death Monday May 22 in Reims of a nurse killed by a man with a heavy psychiatric history
“We cannot generalize from a case, which I do not know in detail. On the other hand, we know very well that the lack of means can lead to this kind of situation.“, analysis Tuesday, May 23 on franceinfo, Antoine Pelissolo, psychiatrist head of the psychiatry department of the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil (Val-de-Marne). In Reims, a 38-year-old nurse was killed after receiving several stabbing by a man with a psychiatric history.”It is a dramatic event which remains exceptional, but it is the sign of all the dysfunctions of a care chain in France“. The suspect indicated during his arrest that he was angry with the hospital environment, according to information from franceinfo. Making incoherent remarks, he claimed to have been mistreated for several years in psychiatric circles.
franceinfo: Psychiatry is the poor relation of medicine in France, in your opinion?
Antoine Pelissolo, head psychiatrist of the psychiatry department at the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil (Val-de-Marne): I think it’s unanimous, because psychiatry budgets have been forgotten for years. Everyone realizes this and sees the consequences at all levels. It affects the most complex hospital structures. There are patients who need to be hospitalized during times of crisis, this affects consultations, children and the elderly. There is a dramatic situation and everything that has been proposed in recent years is often going in the right direction, but we are very far from what is necessary. Mental health is 15 to 20% of the health sector in France, it is therefore an investment that must be very heavy, which weighs and which is essential. The less we spend on these needs, the more we pay for it at all levels.
Should we make a direct link between the lack of resources in psychiatry and the tragedy that occurred at the University Hospital of Reims with the death of this nurse attacked with a knife by a man with a psychiatric history?
We cannot generalize from a case, which I do not know in detail. On the other hand, we know very well that the lack of resources can lead to this kind of situation. This is what we dread all the time. Whether it’s suicide or violence against people, we know it can happen. We are attentive to this, but when there are not enough of us, when we do not have the means to receive people quickly enough, unfortunately, this is one of the risks. It is a dramatic event which remains exceptional, but it is the sign of all the dysfunctions of a care chain in France.
Is there a lack of personnel, establishments and places in psychiatry?
It is essentially a lack of personnel, because we, all our mental health interventions, are above all human interventions so each time there is a shortage of nurses, doctors, the consequence is that there are fewer consultations, fewer beds. In the Paris region, at the moment, we have 15% of the beds which are closed, which means that all the patients who need to be hospitalized, either we send them home, or they wait for days and days to emergencies. This is a situation that has become quite commonplace today with all the risks of violence, especially in emergencies which are very exposed places such as psychiatric services.