npm annual report 2016 / the ombudsman's task 1.2 Operating model The tasks of the National Preventive Mechanism have been organised without setting up a separate NPM unit in the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Two public servants at the Office have been assigned to coordinate the NPM duties for a fixed term in addition to their other tasks. The coordinators are responsible for the international relations of the NPM and for internal coordination within the Office. This arrangement will be in force until the end of 2017. Even though new human resources have not been made available, the plan is to have one legal adviser focus full time on coordinating the tasks of the NPM. In the summer of 2016, the Office employed a trainee who focused, in particular, on the work of the NPM. The Ombudsman has also appointed an OPCAT team within the Office. Its members are the principal legal advisers working in areas of responsibility that involve visits to places where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty, as referred to in the OPCAT, or where customers’ freedom is or may be restricted. The team has nine members, and it is led by one of the NPM coordinators. In 2016, the OPCAT team reviewed and discussed, among other things, experiences gained from the use of external experts and matters related to visits (e.g. conducting follow-up visits and visits outside office hours). In the autumn of 2016, induction training was provided to new external experts regarding the visits undertaken by the NPM. Previously, only one external expert had participated in the visits. After the training, the NPM has been able to use a total of eight external experts, all of whom have a background in health care: three psychiatrists (one of whom also specialises in adolescent psychiatry), one specialist in forensic psychiatry, two medical specialists in geriatrics, one medical specialist in intellectual disabilities and one psychiatric nurse. At the beginning of 2017, training has also been provided to three experts by experience whose expertise will be used during visits to closed social welfare institutions for children and adolescents. During the visits conducted by the NPM, efforts have been made to engage more frequently in constructive dialogue with the staff regarding good practices and procedures. Feedback on observations as well as guidance and recommendations may also be given to the supervised entity already during the visit. At the same time, it has been possible to discuss amiably how the facility could, for example, correct the inappropriate practices observed. A report is drawn up after each visit, presenting the observations made during the visit. The draft report is often sent to the facility visited to provide it with the opportunity to comment on the observations and notify any measures taken in response. After that, the facility may also be requested to notify by a given deadline the measures it will take in relation to those observations that have not yet been dealt with. If, during a visit, something has arisen that needed investigating, the Ombudsman has taken up the investigation of the matter on his/her own initiative and the issue has not been discussed further in the report. 9