Social Care Centres 7. Social care centres 7.1 Introduction In 2012 the representatives of the NPM carried out visits to 16 social care centres.186 7.2 Systemic problems 1. The lack of appropriate organisation of care over mentally ill persons and elderly persons and referring persons with mental disorders to inappropriate centres. During the visits, the representatives of the NPM found cases of referring persons with mental disorders to inappropriate types of centres. In two establishments, there were persons with mental disorders during the visits, although the centres were not adjusted to provide care for such persons. The analysis of the documents of residents in the establishments for persons with mental disorders revealed that in the majority of cases the main reason for placing them at the centre was the inability to satisfy the basic living needs which means that some of the residents could live outside the centre, if there was a better organised system of care for persons with mental disorders. 2.  Contact with the outside world. During the visits, the representatives of the Mechanism noted the problem consisting in restrictions on the residents’ going out of the Social Care Centre buildings. The visiting team found that the restrictions were imposed in particular on chronically mentally ill persons, mentally disabled persons, persons abusing alcohol or those admitted pursuant to a decision of the court. The restrictions in the visited establishments had various form, starting from discouraging the residents from going out on their own, allowing them to go out only during the working hours of the administrative personnel or granting passes for going out. The most far-reaching restriction found was the locking of the doors to the building. A different procedure was followed in one of the social care centres where the head of 186 The issue of visits to social care centres, which initially raised doubts of supervisory authorities, was clarified and described in the Bulletin of the Human Rights Defender. Sources 2011, No 3, pp. 180-181. 79