Implementation of the Duties and Powers of the National Preventive Mechanism in 2012 Complaint procedures Complaints procedures are defined by Vojnik Psychiatric Hospital in a booklet “Complaint Procedures” given to every patient upon his/her admission. The booklet also states rights under the Patient Rights Act, the ZDZdr, patients’ responsibilities as well as information on an advocate of patient’s rights. During the previous visit it had already been established that the booklet mentions the Ministry of Health, the Medical Chamber of Slovenia and the Human Rights Ombudsman as the potential channels to solve complaints outside the hospital in question without stating the actual details of these authorities. Neither does the booklet sum up the rights of patients under the ZDZdr in a proper manner as it is erroneously stated that the right to use a telephone is provided for a person under a supervised treatment. In accordance with Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the ZDZdr, the right to use a telephone is ensured to every person staying in a secure ward, whilst a person under a supervised treatment is (only) provided with the right to movement and the right to an advocate (Article 12, Paragraph 3). The booklet had not been modified before the repeated visit in Vojnik Psychiatric Hospital. As a result, it was proposed to have it amended with the contact details of the previously mentioned authorities (Ministry of Health, Medical Chamber of Slovenia, Human Rights Ombudsman) and have the errors corrected. The hospital in question took into account the proposals, and in the booklet Complaints Procedures complemented information with the contact details of an advocate of patient’s rights in Celje. The written right stating that a person under supervised treatment is guaranteed a right to use a telephone was deleted. Given such a communication by Vojnik Psychiatric Hospital, it was explained that the NPM pointed out that the right to the use of a telephone is guaranteed to a person staying in a secure ward, in accordance with Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the ZDZdr, but not also to a person under a supervised treatment. Since in the booklet, the hospital has enumerated rights provided for by the mentioned Act, it is proper to have the text of the booklet harmonised with the statutorily guaranteed rights. It is thus not correct that the right to use a telephone has still not been written down among the rights of a person staying in a secure ward. It was also pointed out that the ZDZdr stipulates only the minimum extent of rights which must be guaranteed to every patient in the secure ward or under a supervised treatment. A patient must, however, also be guaranteed the other rights guaranteed to every individual, pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and international documents on human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is thus always possible to extend to patients the full range of rights and the extent of an individual’s rights. Because of the above mentioned it was proposed that Vojnik Psychiatric Hospital again revise the booklet so as to mention the NPM of the revised text of the booklet. In Vojnik Psychiatric Hospital, a letter box for comments and complaints is placed in front of the entrance into the ward and in the room for nurses, in a punched plasticized file folder. In the NPM’s opinion, proper anonymity is not provided for in this manner. The house rules were not displayed on the notice board of the secure in-patient ward for women and so it was proposed to have them displayed. The proposal was respected so that the house rules had been framed (owing to potential abuse and the rules repeatedly being taken down). It was put on the wall next to the entrance to the ward. The letterbox for comments and complaints was placed anew inside the communal room which was commended. The notification on rights (exchange of letters, sending and receiving parcels, making telephone calls, visits and an advocate) displayed in the secure in-patient ward for women was commended; the notification states that during treatment in a psychiatric hospital on the secure ward the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is guaranteed to persons – particularly human individuality and dignity and mental and physical integrity. National Preventive Mechanism in the Republic of Slovenia under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 65