Implementation of Duties and Powers of the National Preventive Mechanism in 2010 accommodation space. However, we observed that common rooms and secure ward rooms left a cold and bleak impression, impersonal and not really stimulating, as the hospitals (obviously) do not pay enough attention to the equipment or decor. The DPM believes that a visually suitable accommodation room is certainly important to create a positive therapeutic environment. In some patient rooms, no personal or decorative items were observed. We even had the impression that no one was accommodated in that room. Artistic creations made by patients, which must be quite numerous considering the activation therapy, were neither observed on the walls of secure ward halls nor in the rooms of other secure wards. We suggested that the hospitals furnish patient rooms, and particularly common rooms, with patient creations, which have aesthetic value and create a more optimistic atmosphere. Room decoration is also a visual stimulus, making the place more homely and patient-friendly. In both hospitals, even within each secure ward, we observed different practices regarding the day clothes of patients. In both secure wards in the Vojnik hospital, patients wore hospital clothes; in the Idrija hospital, the majority of patients in gerontopsychiatric ward and some patients in the reception male ward wore hospital clothes. Experience shows that the practice of wearing hospital clothes does not contribute to strengthening the patient’s personal identity and his or her self-confidence. Since the individualisation of clothing in secure wards might be an important part of the therapeutic process, the hospital should inform the patients of the possibility of wearing their own day clothes and encourage them to do so, except when such practice would aggravate or disable the therapeutic care of a patient. Also, according to the Expanded Professional Board of Psychiatry (RSK), clothes worn by persons hospitalised in secure wards are highly important for their self-image and personal dignity; therefore, these wards should encourage the wearing of personal clothes, which is supported by professional and humanistic factors. RSK also encourages personnel working at psychiatric wards to wear personal clothing. Both hospitals are faced with personnel issues due to the lack of psychiatrists, which is evident in the quality of work with patients, since the employed psychiatrists are overburdened by the large number of patients and cannot devote themselves to them to the desired extent. One of the hospitals also pointed out the inadequate organisation of specialisations, which does not take into account the actual region’s and hospital’s needs for trainee specialists. Admissions without consent to secure wards The hospitals keep central records on admissions for treatment without consent to secure ward in urgent cases, and documents on admissions without consent are additionally kept in patient medical records. During the DPM visit, both hospitals highlighted that the statutory time limits for information were (too) short. As we have established, the forms used by the hospitals for notification on admissions without consent were prepared on the basis of the Mental Health Act (ZDZdr). Access to randomly chosen patient medical records and to records on admissions without consent showed that the time limits specified by ZDZdr for notification were sometimes not observed, and in some cases, it was not possible to verify whether the notification on admission without consent had been submitted in due time, because the time of admission without consent had not been stated on the notification. Occasionally, the archiving of individual documents on admissions without consent was also insufficient, as some medical records did not contain certain forms. National Preventive Mechanism in the Republic of Slovenia under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 51