WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #360 - Unionism - Psychiatry in Calvados: Mental Health on Strike (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Another day of strike action took place on March 12th at the Public
Mental Health Institution (EPSM) in Caen. Gathered under the CGT EPSM
marquees, the strikers denounced, among other things, the freezing of
the index point, the reduction of certain benefits, and the introduction
of a waiting day. UCL Caen met with them. Discussions are well underway
under the marquee of the picket line at the entrance to the EPSM in
Caen. The first major issue: "There have been several announcements of
temporary closures over the past two years, and one department has been
completely closed. Recently, another department could no longer
accommodate patients." The overall policy of eliminating beds continues
to wreak havoc. But the lack of doctors is also a factor. Without a
psychiatrist, there will be no admission of patients. Services are then
closed and positions are reassigned or eventually eliminated.

EPSM employees have chosen to strike in rotation, working for fifteen
minutes per person. This ensures that the minimum level of service is
maintained and meets the needs of healthcare users. The number of
strikers is important to the CGT (General Confederation of Labor) in
order to gain leverage in negotiations: "With management, there are
things we could negotiate locally." This method of action gains greater
support from employees, who can then join the picket line and be counted
as strikers.

UCL Caen
EPSM represents nearly 70% of mental health service coverage in
Calvados. The closure of beds has a significant impact on patient care
and shifts care to those who need it: "We can't meet the needs of the
population. We don't know what's happening to some patients, and we're
shifting the burden of care onto their families."

Beyond the number of beds, the quality of service and care has also
deteriorated: "There's a significant loss of meaning at work. We know
we're not doing our best because it's become primarily logistical
tasks." The streamlining of activity leads to the protocolization of
even the smallest care gestures and an overload of work. Listening and
social support for patients are being cut: "Caregiver time that doesn't
bring in any money."

"Hindering" aptly describes this strategy of destroying the mental
health sector[1]. Services are plunged into a vicious cycle of
streamlining and degrading service delivery, the aim of which is none
other than a shift toward private healthcare.

"We've decided to fight. It's a societal issue, and it goes beyond
hospitals. What do we want for the population? Do we want effective
public services?" The testimonies of struggling healthcare workers from
the EPSM (National School of Public Health) in Calvados show us how the
struggles for working conditions and the quality of healthcare services
intersect. They raise a broader question of societal choices, where the
need for mental health care affects one in five French people.

Testimonies collected from the strikers

Marie and Sol (UCL Caen)

Validate

[1]N. Vézinat, Le service public interdite, PUF, 2025.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Psychiatrie-dans-le-Calvados-Sante-mentale-en-greve
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