ANNUAL SPECIAL REPORT 2017 53 Psychiatric Ward of General Hospital “G. Hatzikosta” in Ioannina On 19.10.2017 a visite – on-site inspection was carried out at the two hostels (Psychargos Α & Β) of the General Hospital “G. Hatzikosta” in Ioannina, as well as in a protected apartment within the community. Hostels aim at the gradual de-institutionalisation of chronic mental patients, the gradual decrease in hospitalization time in psychiatric wards, at safeguarding the patients’ rights, gradual acceptance of mental disorders by the community and the integration of mental patients, in order to fight stigma and their exclusion from employment. At the Psychargos Α Hostel, patients are trained and employed in the wax workshop and at the Psychargos B Hostel in silversmithery.  Furthermore, under the Hostel’s responsibility, there are two protected apartments leased by the Hospital within the city, which can accommodate up to 4 persons each. Total capacity of the Hostels is 19 persons and on the day of inspection 18 persons hosted in them, in double rooms. In addition, 3 men hosted at the Centre of Pre-professional Training and 2 more in a protected apartment. Hostels were staffed with 6 Nurses and one social worker for both of them, also responsible for managing the patients’ money. On the day of the visit, patients were attending a creative activity program including singing and presentations by the social worker, to which they actively participated. All spaces were presentable and clean. A depot therapy program is applied and there is a medication chart for each patient, as well as an accountability record for the staff, recording each patient. No restraint is applied, since, as the visiting team was informed, patients do not usually relapse. The Hostels started operating in 2000, after the Psychiatric Hospital in Corfu was permanently shut down. They were designed as middle-terms hostels, but ended up being long-term, given that patients lack the necessary support and family environment in order to independently stay within the community. Unfortunately, this turns the Hostels into an alternative “institution”, which can only be altered by the implementation of a comprehensive action plan to support reinforcement and social reintegration programs for the mentally ill after they exit the Hostels. Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki A visit was carried out in four (4) acute incidents departments, the University Clinic for middle–term and acute incidents, the Prolonged Hospitalisation Department, the Psychoforensics Department (article 69 of the Criminal Code),