Regarding access to rights, this information and assistance role is partly fulfilled by healthcare
access centres for disadvantaged people (PASSs) in psychiatry, which have been set up in forty
institutions. This forms part of the objectives defined in the local mental health plans established by
the Decree of 27 July 2017. Lastly, the Ministry of Health points out that citizen's advice centres
(PADs) organised by the Ministry of Justice provide free and anonymous assistance to people
struggling with a legal or administrative problem, without giving any numbers. All of these schemes
would be worth developing; to that end, the Ministry of Health could gain from setting a target figure.
Develop healthcare access centres for disadvantaged people (PASSs) in psychiatry and citizen's
advice centres (PADs) so as to help people with mental health problems and their families to
access information about their rights. Monitor this development by setting a target figure.
2.1.3 Privacy and family life - relations with the outside world
The CGLPL had issued several series of recommendations, which particularly included lifting the
absolute blanket ban on sexual relations, enabling patients to access their financial resources and only
restricting visiting, telephone and computer access rights on medical grounds.
In all cases, the Minister of Health indicates that there is no absolute blanket ban but that,
pursuant to Article L. 3211-3 of the Public Health Code, only appropriate, necessary restrictions in
proportion to the patient's mental state. The CGLPL is not unaware of this provision, whose contents
it does not contest. It does, however, note that, in 2017 as in 2014, the bans it observes in hospitals go
well beyond that and are only seldom subject to discussions - in the form of work on "the freedom to
come and go".
It therefore recommends that educational measures, more detailed instructions or discussions
covering all aspects of patient's daily lives and social relationships be set up and that these points
come under stricter scrutiny on the part of the health authorities.
Develop an action plan on the rights and freedoms of involuntary patients going beyond merely
the freedom to come and go, to encompass all aspects of their social relationships and daily life.
Finally, the CGLPL suggested organising focus groups or training for families by medical
teams so as to facilitate communication and collaboration between practitioners, patients and their
loved ones, and to explain the care pathways to them.
This recommendation was taken on board in the Decree of 27 July 2017 on the local mental
health plan. This plan should aim at promoting the involvement of patients, their families and loved
ones in drawing up and carrying out the care and social or medical-social plans, especially as regards
patient education, support for caregivers and peer mutual assistance procedures. The CGLPL duly
notes these measures and recommends that they be assessed in the next two or three years at three
levels of responsibility of the health service (national, regional and local).
Assess the measures taken with respect to information for people with mental health problems
and their family and to involving families in their treatment.
2.1.4 Right to health
The CGLPL recommended giving patients the freedom to choose their own psychiatrist, given that
several work within the same unit. The Minister of Health draws attention to the fact that the law as it
currently stands complies with this recommendation. She nevertheless concedes that difficulties in
enabling this in practice may exist at local level and says that this subject may be discussed during the
sessions of the psychiatry steering committee. The CGLPL duly notes this intention.
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