Report of the Human Rights Defender on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism in Poland in 2014 lity of contact with the Ombudsman for Psychiatric Hospital Patients’ Rights. Only in one hospital, patients – who were able to do so – could not sign statements of knowledge of the rights referred to above212. In one hospital213, the representatives of the Mechanism interviewed a foreigner (U.S. citizen) who did not know anything about his/her psychiatric and judicial opinion, because he/she was not informed about it in a language he/she understood. The representatives of the NPM find such a situation unacceptable, so it was advised to inform patients of their rights in a language they understand. 5. Right to health care and therapy In the hospitals visited, each newly admitted patient was examined by a psychiatrist. Patients had full access to medical personnel in wards. Meetings with doctors took place in a  planned way (medical appointments, individual periodic examination), as well as on a patient’s request or in emergencies (mental deterioration, somatic illness occurrence, etc.). Outside working hours of medical personnel, any patient in need of urgent care could be examined by a duty doctor. In addition to psychiatric treatment, persons treated in the hospitals visited received necessary assistance regarding their somatic condition. The representatives of the NPM voiced their reservations on the matter in relation to only one establishment214. It was found to refrain from performing thorough diagnostics of patients’ somatic condition, as it lacked follow-up results for laboratory results deviating from normal ranges. Patients interviewed by the representatives of the Mechanism did not report any reservations or complaints regarding the medical (psychiatric or somatic) coverage. They knew what they were diagnosed with and what medications they took. At their own request, they had access to information and medical records. In one hospital, some patients argued that information they were provided with was incomprehensible and voluntarily desisted from going into much detail on it215. In the opinion of the representatives of the NPM, the goal should be to provide each patient with information, according to his/her capacity of understanding, about the state of his/her health and the method of treatment. Since patients’ condition varies depending on what they suffer from, the information in question should be adjusted accordingly to their cognitive abilities. Hospital in Katowice. Hospital in Choroszcz. 214 Hospital in Choroszcz. 215 Hospital in Choroszcz. 212 213 60