16 8. CPT: 9TH GENERAL REPORT medical issues 37. When examining the issue of health-care services in prisons in its 3rd General Report (cf. CPT/Inf (93) 12, paragraphs 30 to 77), the CPT identified a number of general criteria which have guided its work (access to a doctor; equivalence of care; patient's consent and confidentiality; preventive health care; professional independence and professional competence). Those criteria apply with equal force to detention centres for juveniles. 38. Of course, the CPT pays special attention to the specific medical needs of juveniles deprived of their liberty. It is particularly important that the health care service offered to juveniles constitutes an integrated part of a multidisciplinary (medico-psycho-social) programme of care. This implies inter alia that there should be close co-ordination between the work of an establishment's health care team (doctors, nurses, psychologists, etc.) and that of other professionals (including social workers and teachers) who have regular contact with inmates. The goal should be to ensure that the health care delivered to juveniles deprived of their liberty forms part of a seamless web of support and therapy. It is also desirable that the content of a detention centre's programme of care be set out in writing and made available to all members of staff who may be called upon to participate in it. 39. All juveniles deprived of their liberty should be properly interviewed and physically examined by a medical doctor as soon as possible after their admission to the detention centre; save for in exceptional circumstances, the interview/examination should be carried out on the day of admission. However, a newlyarrived juvenile's first point of contact with the health care service could be a fully-qualified nurse who reports to a doctor. If properly performed, such medical screening on admission should enable the establishment's health care service to identify young persons with potential health problems (e.g. drug addiction, suicidal tendencies). The identification of such problems at a sufficiently early stage will facilitate the taking of effective preventive action within the framework of the establishment's medico-psycho-social programme of care. 40. Further, it is axiomatic that all juveniles deprived of their liberty should be able to have confidential access to a doctor at any time, regardless of the regime (including disciplinary confinement) to which they may be subjected. Appropriate access to a range of specialist medical care, including dentistry, should also be guaranteed. 41. The task of the health care service in any place of detention should not be limited to treating sick patients; it should also be entrusted with responsibility for social and preventive medicine. In this connection, the CPT wishes to highlight two aspects of particular concern as regards juveniles deprived of their liberty, namely, inmates' nutrition and the provision of health education. Health care staff should play an active part in monitoring the quality of the food which is being provided to inmates. This is particularly important for juveniles, who may not have reached their full growth potential. In such cases, the consequences of inadequate nutrition may become evident more rapidly - and be more serious - than for those who have reached full physical maturity. It is also widely recognised that juveniles deprived of their liberty have a tendency to engage in risk-taking behaviour, especially with respect to drugs (including alcohol) and sex. In consequence, the provision of health education relevant to young persons is an important element of a preventive health care programme. Such a programme should, in particular, include the provision of information about the risks of drug abuse and about transmittable diseases.