Section 5: Medical and psychological emergency units

The regional health agency organises the handling of medical and psychological emergencies: It sets up a departmental medical-psychological emergency unit for each health establishment where the emergency medical service (SAMU) is based. This unit is made up of psychiatrists, psychologists and volunteer nurses, who may or may not work in the health establishment. The unit is coordinated by a referral psychiatrist appointed by the regional health agency. This unit is…

A medico-psychological emergency unit, known as a “regional medico-psychological emergency unit”, designated by order of the Minister for Health, is responsible for the regional coordination of departmental medico-psychological emergency units, which consists in particular of : 1° Drawing up the regional list of professionals working in the medical-psychological emergency units on the basis of lists submitted by the referring psychiatrists, and forwarding this list to the regional health agency; 2°…

Under the coordination of the regional medico-psychological emergency unit, the referring psychiatrist of a departmental medico-psychological emergency unit is responsible for : 1° Recruiting volunteers and forwarding to the regional medico-psychological emergency unit the list of psychiatrists, psychologists and nurses volunteering to work within the departmental medico-psychological emergency unit; 2° Contributing, together with the emergency medical service (SAMU) to which the medico-psychological emergency unit is attached, to the development of…

The intervention of the medical and psychological emergency unit is decided by the emergency medical assistance service, where applicable, at the request of the Prefect, particularly in the context of the emergency organisation plans mentioned in article R. 6311-3. The emergency medical assistance service informs the regional health agency of the activation of the cell. The establishment in which the emergency medical service is located, in conjunction with the referring…

The medical-psychological emergency units include professionals specialised or competent in mental health who have received specific training under the conditions mentioned in 2° of article R. 6311-25-1. Professionals working in medical-psychological emergency units are bound by professional secrecy under the conditions set out inarticle 226-13 of the French Penal Code.

The professionals of the medical and psychological emergency unit intervene under conditions laid down by an agreement between the establishment to which they are attached and the health establishment where the emergency medical service is located. The participation of self-employed healthcare professionals in the medical and psychological emergency service is determined by an agreement between the professional, the health establishment where the emergency medical service is located and the departmental…

In the event of an exceptional health situation, the medico-psychological unit set up within the reference health establishment which is the head office of the regional emergency medical service (SAMU) referred to in article R. 3131-7, known as the “zonal medico-psychological emergency unit”, is responsible for coordinating the mobilisation of the medico-psychological emergency units in the defence zone. In conjunction with the other regional medico-psychological emergency units, it provides :…

The regional health agency for the zone organises and implements the necessary back-up for the cells in the event of a disaster occurring in its defence zone, in accordance with the procedures defined in the zonal mobilisation plan. To this end, it draws up the medical-psychological section of the zonal mobilisation plan, relying in particular on the medical-psychological emergency unit mentioned in article R. 6311-30.

I. – The national medical and psychological emergency network is made up of all the medical and psychological emergency units. An order issued by the Minister for Health specifies the procedures for coordinating and mobilising the national medical and psychological emergency network. II. – This network is run by a national referral psychiatrist chosen from among the referral psychiatrists for the units mentioned in the first paragraph. He is appointed…