CHANCELLOR OF JUSTICE AS THE PREVENTIVE MECHANISM
that the contracts for the provision of security services mostly include a clause according to which security
staff providing personal protection services at the providers of psychiatric care must have completed special
training on the behaviour of persons with special needs, in practice many of the security staff providing the
service have not completed such training.27 It should also be noted that on several occasions problems with
notifying people about the use of video surveillance (§ 14 of the Personal Data Protection Act) and conformity of the organisation of smoking indoors with the requirements of legislation (§ 30 of the Tobacco
Act) were found.
On the basis of the inspection visits, it should be noted that unfortunately the long-standing problem of
absence of the speciality of child psychiatry from the list of specialised medical care specialities has still not
been resolved. Child psychiatry is defined only as a special branch of psychiatry. As child psychiatry is not
an independent speciality of specialised medical care, there is no development plan, etc, for regulating the
circumstances relating to the provision of this health service. The Chancellor also pointed out this fact to
the Minister of Social Affairs.
The majority of the addressees of the recommendations replied to the Chancellor’s above recommendations
that they would take them into account in their future activities. Definitely, the main difficulty lies with
reconstructing the restraint room to bring it into line with the requirements. With regard to the training of
security staff, service providers have started cooperation and exchange of information about the organisation of different training possibilities for security service providers. On the initiative of the Chancellor of
Justice, the Health Care Board has promised to convene a working group in 2011 with the aim to draw
up harmonised and exhaustive patient information materials for the providers of psychiatric care services.
The materials would also be translated into the more widely spread foreign languages and, in order to save
costs, central printing of the materials is considered.
The following part contains an overview of the conclusions made by the Chancellor in the performance
of his function as the national preventive mechanism in connection with the supervision of the activity
of providers of in-patient psychiatric care in 2010. With regard to each service provider, specific problems
characteristic for the particular establishment and not described above will be highlighted.
2.
Psychiatric clinic of Tartu University Hospital Foundation
On 9 March 2010, the Chancellor carried out an inspection visit to the psychiatric clinic of Tartu
University Hospital Foundation. The previous inspection of the establishment took place in 2007. As
a result of the inspection, the Chancellor recommended to the service provider to pay attention to the
need to organise an employee job satisfaction survey and draw up and establish the procedure for visiting
the patients in the clinic. In addition, on the basis of feedback from the service provider, the Chancellor
recommended to the Director General of the Social Insurance Board to consider the possibility of ensuring sufficient financing of rehabilitation services needed by the patients of the psychiatric clinic of Tartu
University Hospital Foundation. During the follow-up proceedings, the addressees of the recommendations informed the Chancellor that the recommendations had been taken into account or provided exhaustive explanations of the situation.
3.
Psychiatric clinic of Viljandi Hospital Foundation
On 4 May 2010, the Chancellor of Justice carried out an inspection visit to the psychiatric clinic of
Viljandi Hospital Foundation. During the visit, the activities of the coercive treatment department and the
children’s department were inspected. The previous inspection of the establishment took place in 2006. As
a result of the inspection, the Chancellor recommended that the service provider should remove from the
general patient information and consent form an automatic request for the service recipient’s consent for
participation in research and development activities. It was also recommended to draw up and establish a
27 8th general report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT/Inf (98) 12), para 28. Available online: http://www.cpt.coe.int/en/annual/rep-08.htm. See also the Council of
Europe Committee of Ministers recommendation Rec(2004)10 concerning the protection of the human rights and dignity of
persons with mental disorder, Art 32.4. Available online: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=775685&BackColorInternet=9
999CC&BackColorIntranet=FFBB55&BackColorLogged=FFAC75.
55
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