Section 18: Psychiatry

Psychiatry is part of the mental health policy defined in article L. 3221-1. It includes preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation activities.

The holder of the authorisation provides, on site or by agreement with another holder, care for patients in the form of part-time stays, full-time stays and outpatient care, including care at home. In order to guarantee continuity of care for psychiatric patients, certain types of care, defined by order of the Minister for Health, may be provided outside the authorised site. The authorisation specifies the places where these care methods…

Psychiatry is practised under the following headings: 1° “Adult psychiatry”, providing care for adults; 2° “Child and adolescent psychiatry”, providing care for children and adolescents from birth to the age of eighteen; 3° “Perinatal psychiatry”, organising joint care for parents and babies, from the preconception and prenatal stages; 4° “Non-consensual care” providing the care referred to in Chapters II and III of Title I of Book II of Part Three…

Authorisation holders who are not designated under article L. 3221-4 contribute to the implementation of the patient care pathway and carry out their activity in partnership with the establishments providing sector psychiatry services in the area in which they are located. A partnership agreement is signed between these establishments. It is sent to the regional health agency before the authorisation is implemented.

The holder of the authorisation carries out its activity in accordance with the territorial mental health project, in particular with the provisions of III of article L. 3221-2.

The authorisation holder organises access to unscheduled care within a timeframe appropriate to the patient’s clinical condition. This access may be organised by agreement with one or more other authorisation holders. The authorisation holder provides outpatient care, both scheduled and unscheduled, on site or by agreement. The authorisation holder organises crisis prevention, reception and management. This care may be organised by agreement with one or more other authorisation holders.

The authorisation holder takes part in the emergency care network provided for in articles R. 6123-26 to R. 6123-32, under the conditions determined by the network’s constitutive agreement.

The authorisation holder must ensure continuity of care, in particular by organising the referral of patients to another form of care.

I.-The authorisation holder provides care for the patient as part of a personalised care pathway. This care pathway provides for care adapted to the patient’s needs at the various stages of the pathway, integrating the gradation of care. Where appropriate, it offers patients and their families therapeutic education programmes or actions. II – Where necessary in complex situations, the authorisation holder organises multidisciplinary consultation meetings to discuss the care plan…

The holder of the authorisation contributes to the reintegration and social inclusion of the patient under its care, in particular in conjunction with other health, social or medico-social establishments, services or persons mentioned in the Public Health Code and the Social Action and Family Code. To this end, the authorisation holder provides patients with access to psycho-social rehabilitation care, depending on their clinical situation.