Child psychiatry: the professionals of Seine-Saint-Denis sound the alarm

The Collectif Pédopsy93, which brings together all the heads of child psychiatry departments and the doctors of the medico-psychological centers of Seine-Saint-Denis, warns against their inability to treat all patients in need of treatment.

“Yes, due to lack of resources, child psychiatry has had to sort out children for years. Yes, in Seine-Saint-Denis children suffer more than elsewhere and receive fewer resources than elsewhere. In a column published by The worldThis Thursday November 24, the Collectif Pédopsy93 warns of the persistent crisis experienced by the profession, especially in the cities of Seine-Saint-Denis.

Professionals ‘Self-Inflicting Shunting’

The collective, which in 1993 brought together all the heads of child psychiatry departments and doctors of medical-psychological centres, elaborated a critical observation, both for caregivers and for those treated. On the one hand, “a vocation crisis”where is theProfessionals who have not yet become discouraged are “overwhelmed” and “inflict a sorting” patients because they cannot respond to all requests. On the other, a growing number of children whose pathologies are not treated.

The growing increase in severe cases

According to the collectiveyou have to wait no less than 18 months to get a first date in 93 cities. “Seine-Saint-Denis, a department of 1.6 million inhabitants, a third of whom are children and adolescents with a sustained birth rate, is one of the least endowed with means of psychological assistance for its youngest”, they underline the signatories of the rostrum. Due to these shortcomings, “Emergencies and serious situations, increasingly serious, because having had to wait a long time for a first appointment, are constantly increasing. »

According to child psychiatrists of 93, this situation has been going on “for years”, and the “corrective measures” adopted are “notoriously insufficient to compensate for the delay”. The collective is therefore asking the state for more budget than the 20 million euros invested in 2022 for all of France and overseas. “France orders its children, they write bluntly. Recognizing and repairing this inequality of access to education, protection and care is an emergency”.

Source: Madmoizelle