“Repercussions on the state of health of the population” warn the caregivers of South Aveyron in a letter to elected officials.

Many caregivers were already demonstrating in front of the Millau sub-prefecture on May 28. Midi Libre – F.MAYET

Around forty doctors and caregivers working throughout South Aveyron have just sent a joint letter to elected officials and administrative officials to alert of the " difficulties encountered in the care of people with psychiatric illness&quot ;.

There are forty-nine of them. General practitioners, psychologists, nurses, addictologists. Everyone works in South Aveyron. In Millau of course, but also in Saint-Affrique, La Cavalerie, Saint-Rome-de-Cernon, Saint-Georges de Luzençon, Sévérac d’Aveyron or even in Saint-Beauzely. The joint letter addressed with a pen dipped in the ink of concern is addressed to local elected officials. But also to administrative and health officials. At the forefront of which are the Prefect of Aveyron and the Director General of the ARS (regional health agency) Occitanie.

Psychiatry in difficulty for several years

"We are primary care caregivers and psychologists in southern Aveyron. We come to tell you about the complicated situation in which we find ourselves in caring for people with psychiatric illnesses." do they begin. "For several years now we have encountered difficulties in providing quality psychiatric care."

"The understaffing of psychiatric doctors in the hospital and in private practice does not allow consultation appointments and rapid hospitalizations ; it also does not make it possible to operate the geriatric psychiatry service that the territory needs. Furthermore, the turnover of doctors makes the caregiver-patient relationship more difficult and deteriorates the quality of psychiatric follow-up. In recent days this situation has worsened since two of the three psychiatrists who worked in the hospital's psychiatry department have stopped."

"We fear an increase in dangerous acts"

Then point out the distress observed on a daily basis. The one "in which certain users of the health system find themselves whose needs cannot be taken care of by the psychiatry service. We fear the deterioration of their state of health and ultimately the increase in dangerous acts. This situation will lead to an increase in visits to the emergency room in a context of understaffing of caregivers in this service that everyone knows. There will therefore be repercussions on our entire local healthcare system and on the state of health of the entire population."

The alert from caregivers is clear: "We are not able to do quality work without a public psychiatry service that works correctly in Millau. We do not understand why no solution was found to keep a psychiatrist of foreign origin who wanted to stay working in the department (a solution was mentioned in the letter sent to you by the professionals of the Millau psychiatry center dated May 24, 2024), please explain the reasons to us."

The expectation of political responsiveness

"We are worried about the current situation which makes us fear the disappearance of the public psychiatry service at the Millau hospital, and hope that You will all do what is in your power to remedy this situation." The letter from the doctors and caregivers of South Aveyron concludes with a hope as much as an expectation."We expect great political responsiveness from you. The liberal signatories of this document are available for joint work in this direction."