Psychiatric Hospital

Whatever scheme covers your admission, a nurse will welcome you, guide you and will inform Aubier admissions, 24/7, tel +41 22 305 43 33.

A doctor will evaluate your needs and propose appropriate treatment as soon as you are admitted. The medical and care team will draw up a care plan for your stay in hospital. This may be reviewed at any time at your request or depending on the development of your clinical condition.

Swiss law and Geneva law provide for several admission methods for psychiatry treatment :

• ordinary admission
• placement for assistance purposes prescribed by a doctor
• placement for assistance purposes prescribed by the Court of Protection of the Adult and the Child
• hospitalization decreed by a criminal judicial authority.

In the event of a placement for assistance purposes or hospitalization decreed by a judicial authority, the doctor will inform you of the possibilities for appeal and will provide you with the corresponding legal texts.

If you do not live in the Canton of Geneva or if you are the beneficiary of supplementary insurance, international or foreign insurance, please contact the telephone number +41 22 305 41 33 to check that your hospital stay will be fully covered.

A chart is given to you by your referral nurse. This specifies important information about your stay in hospital. It includes the names of your designated doctors and nurses along with useful telephone numbers.

In general terms and irrespective of the scheme under which you were admitted, any transfer outside of your unit must be notified in advance to your care team. Your doctor may also authorize you to move outside of the Belle-Idée estate if that forms part of your care program.

To receive mail the sender must specify : Mr. or Mrs…, Unit X, with the following address :

HUG, Hôpital de psychiatrie
Chemin du Petit-Bel-Air 2
1226 Thônex

The park around the Belle-Idée estate is a restful, shady space for hospital patients and their close friends and relatives.

If you would like to use a telephone, please contact a nurse so that one can be provided to you. Use of your mobile telephone is authorized.

This is the outcome of a shared decision-making process between you and your therapeutic referral personnel, with the role of each party being defined in advance of the crisis. The aim of the shared crisis plan is to identify the early warning signs and trigger factors of a crisis or relapse and specifies the strategies and resources to mobilize rapidly in the event of such a crisis along with the care and treatments to prioritize or avoid.

During your hospitalization period and based on your clinical condition, in the event of a serious risk to yourself or others, the medical and care teams may be forced, if no other alternative is possible, to decide on measures to limit your freedom of movement. These measures respect the principle of proportionality and their duration is limited to the strict necessary minimum.

The medical and care team will support you throughout your period in hospital, including when such measures are put in place. The team is aware of their impact and will systematically offer you one or several discussions devoted to the events that led up to it and talk through your experience with you.

The support counselor is available to everyone in hospital in the Department of Psychiatry. He or she will arrive after one single call and will respond to all the approaches or grievances relating to your hospitalization. These professionals are independent from the HUG and are appointed by the State of Geneva. They are therefore authorized to assert the exercise of your rights and meet the care teams with you. These support services are free-of-charge and anonymous.
Tel : +41 22 733 40 00

• Ordinary admission
  Your hospital stay ceases on your request. If your attending doctor is of the opinion that your decision to leave is not appropriate, he or she will inform you of the risks incurred. Depending on your clinical condition, a retention measure or a placement for assistance purposes may be put in place by your doctor.
    
• Placement for assistance purposes prescribed by a doctor
  The discharge decision is taken by your attending doctor when he or she is of the opinion that your state of health permits it. However, you may request your discharge at any time. The doctor must respond within 24 hours of your request or the request submitted by your close friends and relatives or by the person authorized to decide on your care on your behalf.
   
  If the doctor refuses you may appeal. This appeal is then transmitted immediately to the Court of Protection of the Adult and the Child for a decision.
   
• Hospitalization decreed by a criminal judicial authority
  The discharge decision in this case is taken by the authority which decreed your placement.

Animals are tolerated outside of the hospital units. However, they are prohibited inside the care units.

The site has one BCGE cash dispenser.

Booths are available for use in some units and in the restaurant. Telephone cards are on sale at Reception. Your close and friends and relatives can contact you in the telephone booths between 8 am and 8 pm or via the nursing office.

A dental service is available to you for emergencies. A medical prescription is required.

The cash office situated on the ground floor of the administrative center ensures the deposit and withdrawal of francs from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 12 pm and from 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

Reception manages 24/7 all deposits and withdrawals of foreign currencies and valuables (keys, cards, jewels, etc.) which are stored in a safe for each patient.

This is located in the Espace Abraham Joly opposite the administrative center. Open to cultural life and creativity, the Nicolas Bouvier Entertainment Center focuses on interpersonal exchanges and encounters in a space outside of the care environment.

Throughout the year it provides services such as daily newspapers, computers, table football and board games. Activities hosted by the educational team (lotteries, concerts, cosmetic treatments, etc.) are also offered on a monthly basis.

The center is open from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 12 pm and from 1 pm to 5 pm and on two Saturday mornings per month.
Tel : +41 22 305 55 67

Located by L’Étang restaurant a hair salon offers appointments on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9.30 am to 12 pm and from 1 pm to 5 pm. This service is at your expense.
Tel : +41 22 305 42 09

Mediators can be contacted at +41 22 372 22 28 or via the email address hug.mediation@hcuge.ch. Meeting with appointment.

Located in the Abraham Joly building, le Bistro’ is open to everyone. It serves hot drinks, fresh fruit juices, pastries and home cooked dishes of the day and pancakes, all for low prices and prepared by individuals on reintegration programs.

The hospital will provide you with a gown intended for your care. Please remember to bring your own toilet bag, pyjamas or nightdress, dressing gown, slippers, which should preferably have backs - and any other items you may need.

Your personal clothes may be maintained by the hospital at a daily rate of CHF 6.50.

Please ask the care team if you want footcare.

This located at the Administrative Centre, opposite the Espace Abraham Joly. The mail counter is open from 8.30 am to 9.30 am and from 1.30 pm to 2 pm. You can buy stamps there. Your stamped mail can also be given to the care team or placed in the yellow mail box in the Salève building.

The Psychiatric Hospital has an equipment room in a lovely bright space. You can go there every Thursday for group sports from your unit or during the fitness workshops proposed by the Sport Health Inclusion Network. A vita and disc golf course also give you the chance to exercise in the fresh air.

Alcohol, cannabis and other illegal substances are prohibited in the units and on the site. The HUG does not tolerate them and reserves the right to issue a criminal proceedings against offenders.

Ask the care team in your unit about use. Use of mobile telephone must not interfere with any care provision nor disturb other patients. Use is restricted to communications. It is forbidden to take photos or make recordings.

Your close friends and relatives may visit you every day from 8 am to 8 pm. However, depending on your state of health, specific hours may be agreed between the care team and your close friends and relatives. Children are not authorized to access the care units. However, the care team may make a meeting space available to you so you can see them.