The adolescent psychiatric day clinic that opened in Wiltz last month is a “provisional solution for acute demand” and will eventually be relocated to a larger facility in the north of the country, Health Minister Martine Deprez (CSV) has said.
The clinic, operated by the Centre Hospitalier du Nord (CHdN) in partnership with the Service National de Psychiatrie Juvénile (SNPJ) of the Hôpitaux Robert Schuman (HRS), can treat up to 15 patients aged 13 to 18 at a time. It is currently housed in a building that previously served as an adult psychiatric ward.
Plans are already in place “for the facility to move to a different, even better infrastructure in the north in the coming years, with even more space,” Deprez said in a written response to a parliamentary question from ADR MPs Alexandra Schoos and Michel Lemaire.
The future location of the clinic has not yet been determined and the search is “actively underway”, the ministry of health and social security told the Luxemburger Wort, adding that further details would be shared once discussions with partners were concluded.
The new day clinic was inaugurated at the end of February in the presence of Health Minister Martine Deprez (3rd from left) and has been in operation since the beginning of March – as a temporary solution until a larger facility is ready © Photo credit: CHdN
The two ADR MPs had questioned the accessibility of the current building, which they said had not originally been designed for its current use, noting that media coverage had included no mention of wheelchair access or a lift. Such features, they said, are “normally provided for in infrastructure of this type under the applicable legal provisions on accessibility”.
Deprez said the CHdN currently falls under a transitional arrangement. The accessibility law, in force since 1 July 2023, only applies to “existing publicly accessible places or those located in an existing built environment” 120 months after publication. That gives the clinic 69 months to either bring the current premises into compliance or move elsewhere, unless it secures an exemption. The current use of the building already complies with Labour Inspectorate (ITM) rules, the minister added.
When doctors are put on a pedestal, patients pay the price
In the meantime, adolescent patients with particular accessibility needs can continue to be treated at HRS day clinics in central and southern Luxembourg, with which the Wiltz clinic works in partnership.
On staffing, Deprez told the MPs that the clinic operates with a “multidisciplinary team” made up of “psychiatric nurses, educators, psychomotor therapists, social workers, nutritionists, as well as psychologists and pedagogues”.
In addition to the staff already recruited by the CHdN and HRS as of 30 March, the 2026/27 staffing plan includes three ministry of education positions: a primary school teacher, a secondary school teacher, and an educator or teacher specialising in inclusion.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translated using AI and edited by Kabir Agarwal.)
