A center dedicated to Security will be opened at the Gérard Marchant hospital in Toulouse. This decision follows an investigation by the Inspectorate General for Social Affairs (IGAS) after the “leak” of several patients in early 2022, one of whom violently assaulted a passerby on the streets of Toulouse.
For the CGT it is a “return to the past”. This Monday, in a leaflet addressed to nurses, the union reveals the latest decisions made by the hospital management Gérard Marchant regarding access to its site. “At the end of last week an Extraordinary Technical Committee (CTE) was held with, on the agenda, the measures adopted following the recommendations of the IGAS (General Inspectorate of Social Affairs), indicates the CGT.
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Toulouse: after two escapes, inspection by ARS Occitanie at the Gérard Marchant hospital
In January and February 2022 a series of “escapes” of psychiatric patients made the news in Toulouse. One of these patients, known as the “cannibal of the Pyrenees”, had assaulted a patient on the streets of the city, a few hours after she was released without authorization. The Regional Health Agency (ARS Occitanie) had requested the opening of an administrative investigation for the two hospital sites involved in the reception of psychiatric patients, the Gérard Marchant hospital and the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Toulouse. Since February, the Marchant hospital management has strengthened the entrance and exit control system at its site.
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VIDEO. Case of the “cannibal of the Pyrenees”, explains the Marchant Hospital
“We ask for means to be cured, the guardians prefer to build walls”
“We have been presented with the measures resulting from this report. The management has decided to equip the hospital with a dedicated security unit by hiring an engineer in charge of this unit and 12 agents to secure the perimeter of the hospital. ‘hospital, filter entrances and exits and intervene at the request of caregivers on calls for reinforcement in case of agitation. All this for a cost of 1 million euros a year “, details the CGT, evoking its dissent. “We find it scandalous to invest so much money in the recruitment of security guards when for years we have been calling for the creation of a 9th psychiatric sector in the Toulouse conurbation with more beds and resources. Our topic is care, support, but it is not. the choice of guardians who prefer to build walls to reassure the population outside. It is a step backwards, towards asylum, which affects all patients, is totally contradictory with the discourse of the desire to include patients in society “. highlights an elected CGT.
Public security officers will be trained
The director of the Gérard Marchant hospital center, Bruno Madelpuech, confirms the information provided to staff representatives on this “sensitive” issue. “There will be two security guards a day, which correspond to twelve positions we are going to assume. Eventually, public security guards will be trained (currently the security guards at the entrance are employees of a private company, ed), who will know that the care teams are in support. Work on general site safety, to reduce the risks on the routes between the inside and the outside, is still ongoing and we inform the unions to gather their observations. This security must have a sense from the point of view of assistance and must ensure that our pavilions can remain open. It is far from being the only project of the Marchant hospital, we are constantly working to improve the assistance sectors “, says Bruno Madelpuech who also specifies to wait for the arbitration of the protection for the envelope of 1 million euros required for this security.
ARS Occitanie indicates to “reaffirm its confidence in these structures for the development of corrective measures and for the implementation of action plans to ensure the quality and safety of care. This work is ongoing at this stage”.
