According to a report published on Thursday by the office of the General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL), headed by Dominique Simonnot, patients requiring psychiatric care in the Paris region face serious failings, including being forced to lie directly on the floor, remaining on stretchers for several days, and experiencing arbitrary detention under conditions that guarantee neither dignity nor privacy.
Psychiatric Emergency Waiting Times Surge in Île-de-France
In the first half of 2026, 3,957 patients requiring psychiatric care faced prolonged waits in accident and emergency departments across Île-de-France, marking a 31.8% rise compared to 2025, according to the CGLPL report. Teams from the oversight body visited several facilities in early July, including Cochin, Robert-Debré, Necker, Pitié-Salpêtrière, Sainte-Anne, Delafontaine in Saint-Denis, and Henri-Mondor in Créteil. The findings detail care conditions incompatible with fundamental rights within departments suffering from staff shortages, a lack of resources, and too few psychiatric beds.
Average waiting times exceeded 39 hours in the second quarter of 2026, rising from 29 hours at the start of 2025. At Sainte-Anne, 60% of psychiatric emergency patients waited more than 13 hours, while 20% waited more than 48 hours. In some hospitals, patients remained in A&E departments for up to ten days waiting for an inpatient bed. The CGLPL warns that these delays cause patients to give up on treatment and trigger breakdowns in continuity of care, demanding very rapid organizational, infrastructure, capacity, and human resources solutions.
Did you know? The CGLPL inspects places like prisons, police custody suites, administrative detention centers, and psychiatric units across France to ensure that deprivation of liberty respects fundamental human rights.
Practices Outside the Legal Framework and Child Care Shortages
The CGLPL report highlights that patients intended for admission without consent are being held arbitrarily, and seclusion or restraint measures are used without any legal framework. The oversight body calls for hospitals to establish facility-wide policies on alternatives to these practices alongside better staff training. Child and adolescent psychiatry faces severe strain as well. Due to a shortage of child psychiatrists and a lack of suitable places, many minors are admitted to adult wards. Consequently, the CGLPL is calling for a specific legal status for young patients and a dedicated rehabilitation plan for child and adolescent psychiatry.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the CGLPL report find in Paris-region hospitals?
According to the CGLPL report, psychiatric emergency departments in Île-de-France suffer from serious failings, including patients lying on floors, staying on stretchers for days, arbitrary detentions, and a lack of privacy and dignity.
How long do patients wait in psychiatric emergencies?
The CGLPL noted that average waiting times exceeded 39 hours in the second quarter of 2026, with some patients waiting up to ten days in A&E departments for a bed.
What are the main causes cited for the crisis?
The report attributes the crisis to staff shortages, a lack of resources, and too few available psychiatric beds.
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