Faced with a mental health crisis that worsens, especially among young people, the government reveals an ambitious national plan to refound psychiatry. Early identification of mental disorders, improvement of access to care and revaluation of the discipline appear at the heart of this strategy, deployed on several axes. If the intentions displayed testify to a late but real awareness, they already arouse reservations on the side of the unions, which point to a lack of means and readability in the implementation. Decryption of an expected plan as criticized.
A CAP on youth and early identification
The first axis of the plan targets young people aged 12 to 25, particularly exposed to mental disorders from the pandemic. The government wishes to generalize early identification in schools. He intends to train two reference adults in each establishment by 2026. In parallel, the roadmap also provides for the training of all school health personnel in detecting the first signs of mental suffering.
Students of the health service will be called upon to intervene in schools to teach students psychosocial skills. One objective has been set: double the number of mental health rescuers to reach 300,000 trained by 2027.
But for unions, the intention is not enough.
Catherine Nave-Bekhti, of the CFDT Education, told AFP: “Without financial means, we do not see how it can work “ Recalling that establishments are already sorely lacking nurses, doctors, school psychologists and social workers. Same story with Sophie Venetitay du SNES-FSU, who warns: “We cannot weigh the weight of this challenge only on the staff already in place“.
Reinvent local psychiatry
The second axis of the plan tackles the accessibility of psychiatric care. The government wishes to strengthen a readable and proximity offer for patients in crisis. Medico-psychological centers offering unprogrammed appointment slots and intensive monitoring will receive reinforced support. In psychiatric emergencies, the presence of caregivers and social workers will be encouraged. Caregivers will be trained to favor alternatives to isolation and restraint.
In the city, the system My psychic support must also evolve. The government aims to doubly the number of convenient psychologists. Or 12,000 professionals available by 2027. An essential development, while waiting times sometimes exceed several months in certain regions. This accentuates the territorial inequalities already pointed out by the National Ethical Advisory Committee last January.
Train future caregivers to straighten the discipline
The third component of the plan is based on the training and strengthening of vocations. The plan intends to increase the number of interns in psychiatry, currently around 500, to 600 per year from 2027.
In addition, in each faculty of medicine, an advanced module in psychiatry will become compulsory, accompanied by a practical internship. This educational reform aims to make discipline more visible and more attractive from the first years of study.
At the same time, a mission entrusted to experts will work on working conditions in psychiatry, as recommended by the report by deputies Nicole Dubré-Chirat and Sandrine Rousseau. It must lead to a concrete action plan in 2026, in order to respond to the exhaustion and discouragement of the teams.
But then again, unions are not convinced.
For Jean-Pierre Salvarelli, of the union of hospital psychiatrists, “We cannot catch up for ten years of procrastination and waiting in two strokes of a pot. We take these measures, but that will not solve anything.” Rachel Bocher, president of the National Intersyndicat of Hospital Practitioners, pushes the nail. “”There are main lines, but there is a lack of major financial elements, a schedule and a number of measures: there is nothing about prevention, early identification, research and the question of young people, which comes back regularly “.
The Minister responsible for health, Yannick Neuder, for his part, claims to want to mark “the starting point for a lasting commitment“But the vagueness persists on the budget envelope.”We must rely in priority on the means that we have“He replied, without further details.
A speech that struggles to convince when a third of the posts of hospital practitioners remain vacant and that the number of patients followed in psychiatry has doubled in twenty years.