NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENTARY OMBUDSMAN National Preventive Mechanism against Torture and Ill-Treatment ANNUAL REPORT 2015 40 outdoors every day. The NPM also recommended some minor building alterations to prevent people being able to see the exercise yard from the outside. After the visit Following the visit, Ålesund intermunicipal accident and emergency unit has initiated work to safeguard detainees escorted to the accident and emergency unit on a par with other patients. Guidelines have been devised for the unit’s doctors clarifying roles and providing guidance on how to cooperate with the police in a way that is compliant with the principles of medical ethics. The accident and emergency unit has also stated that it will purchase technical equipment to enable the unit to better safeguard the patients’ right to confidentiality and the need for documentation in serious cases. Sunnmøre Police District has informed that the cells in the custody facility have been painted and that there is now a colour contrast between the floor and the walls of the cells. The police has ordered rip-resistant clothing and blankets for detainees to use when needed. Mental health care institutions Diakonhjemmet Hospital 24–27 February 2015 Partly announced visit Diakonhjemmet Hospital has three psychiatric wards. The NPM visited two of them: the Tåsen geriatric psychiatry unit and the Vinderen adult psychiatry unit. Both units have an open and a closed inpatient section with a total of 38 beds. Findings In general, the physical conditions were satisfactory at all the inpatient sections. The closed unit at the geriatric psychiatry unit planned to make several changes that can lead to safer treatment of patients. During the visit, consideration was given to whether the patients had been informed verbally and in writing of any administrative decisions imposed and of their right to file a complaint. Consideration was also given to whether next of kin were informed about administrative decisions. The NPM visited the segregation sections at both the geriatric psychiatry unit and the adult psychiatry unit’s emergency inpatient section. An individual assessment is made for each patient of whether they should have access to leave the unit and possibly also the hospital area, and if so, whether they should be accompanied. The assessment is referred to as ’status and leave’ and is a method of classifying the need for control and the security of the patient, co-patients and staff. ’Status and leave’ is assessed, changed and cancelled by the doctor/psychologist who is treating the patient together with the social worker. It was found during the visit that, as a matter of routine, staff at the adult psychiatry unit went through the patients’ belongings on admission. No administrative decision was made to conduct such an examination. Luggage searches were based on the patient’s consent. There is no legal authority under applicable regulations to carry out routine searches of the patients’ belongings on admission. Nor does the patient’s consent form an independent basis for carrying out a search under Section 4-6 of the Mental Healthcare Act. The adult psychiatry unit should only look through the patients’ belongings when there are grounds for suspecting that medication, drugs or alcohol, means of escape or dangerous objects are being introduced or stored, and then only following an administrative decision that a search should be carried out. A few patient records from 2014 showed that some patients had been strapped to a restraint bed for several days or had been in restraints several times during their stay on account of disruptive behaviour or violence