The CGLPL has collected numerous testimonies from patients who consider themselves to have been totally neglected during their stay in a seclusion room: some of them expressed the feeling of having been punished by health staff; many reported restrictions that were difficult to accept without understanding the grounds for them (restrictions on going out of the room, no objects authorised, prohibition of smoking, loss of dignity due to obligation to use a slop pail, poor material conditions, etc.); the vast majority report having suffered due to lack of information and respect. Although the spoken word is essential in order for patients to understand placement in seclusion rooms and to relieve anxieties, visits from nurses to patients in seclusion are too often limited to the satisfaction of elementary needs and surveillance of permanent features. In view of the restriction of autonomy to which seclusion gives rise and the anxieties that it may create, the CGLPL recommends that placement in seclusion rooms should be accompanied by effective follow-up care and systematic interviews at the beginning and end, and throughout the time of the person’s stay. Provision of Information on the Committal system and Means of Remedy Persons committed for psychiatric treatment should be able to be informed about the committal procedure in a clear and precise manner, in order to enable them to understand their situation and thus commence the treatment process. When they are hospitalised by decision of a representative of the State, the grounds for their hospitalisation should be explained to them, with regard to the necessity of treatment and the threat to the security of persons or public order; in case of committal at the request of a third party, the third party’s identity should be revealed to them as an element of the actual situation. The issuing of this information requires time, consideration and great care; in general, it is done during an initial meeting within the unit with a psychiatrist, nurse or health manager. A protocol should be established for this notification procedure in order to specify each actor’s role. Persons hospitalised without consent should also be in a position to dispute the measure applied to them before the competent judge 113. Yet, the CGLPL observes that, in general, notification of rulings of committal to psychiatric treatment without consent and procedures for issuing information concerning means of remedy and patients’ rights are not formalised, so that institutions are not always in a position to be able to provide proof that patients have indeed been notified of these elements. Moreover, various different practices are followed for the notification procedures. Indeed, committal decisions may be handed over to patients by a doctor or health manager, with more or less explanation of the means of remedy, the competent authorities and the practical details of access to lawyers. Furthermore, the list of the lawyers of the local Bar is not systematically displayed in units. The CGLPL recommends that the Ministry of Health should draw up a model document explaining the various different types of hospitalisation without consent and the means of remedy open to patients, in simple terms, with each hospital being responsible for supplementing and adapting it to specific local conditions by adding, in particular, the addresses of the competent authorities. 113 On access to defence rights for persons deprived of liberty cf. CGLPL Annual Report 2012, Section 4. 128