VII)  Health care her consent. “Informed consent” assumes the patient was advised of the purpose and nature of the intervention, its consequences, risks, possible complications and alternatives in such manner that the patient understands the advice. If medical services are provided to a foreign national, the health care services provider has a duty to ensure such conditions as to enable the patient to give his or her informed and free consent (Section 30 of the Health Care Services Act). A record should always be made of the fact that an interpreter assisted during the medical procedure, including the name of the interpreter; the record should be included in the convicts’ medical files so that it is demonstrable that the provider did not neglect its duty under Section 30 of the Health Care Services Act. I have discussed these changes with the General Directorate of the Prison Service during the systematic visits. 59 I recommend that the Ministry of Justice: •• Reviews Regulation of the Minister of Justice No. 4/2008 so that it stipulates a duty on the part of the examining physician to record in the medical files the fact that an interpreter was present during provision of medical services by the physician to the patient; this should be implemented by the end of 2016. In the prisons I visited, interpreting was generally provided by another convict. I consider this practice hazardous with regard to the possible discrepancies in diagnostics resulting from inexpert translation, as well as risky for the patient whose sensitive data may easily spread among the other convicts. 60 I note that I have also encountered cases of severe illness (e.g. HIV infection) in convicted foreign nationals who faced a complete language barrier where not even in these serious cases (in terms of the medical condition and the severity of the language barrier) was a professional interpreter used. 61 I do not completely reject interpreting through a fellow convict, e.g. in cases of emergencies, but especially in cases of severe illness or in cases of very serious language barrier, I believe that using the services of a proper interpreter is necessary (i.e. a professional interpreter arranged through an agency or in co-operation with the embassies of the individual countries, etc.). It is obviously often difficult to get an interpreter; in those cases, prisons abroad use interpreting over the phone. 62 I recommend that the General Directorate of the Prison Service: •• Ensures that patients receive the services of a professional interpreter in cases of severe illness or serious language barrier, pursuant to Section 30 of the Health Care Services Act. 59 Statement of the Director General of the Prison Service, brig. gen. PhDr. Ondrášek in the letter of 14 May 2015, Ref. No.: VS 16/059/006/2015-50/ZDR/812. 60 Similarly in VAN ZYL SMIT, Dirk; SNACKEN, Sonja. Principles of european prison law and policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 155. 61 E.g. File No.: 6685/2013/VOP/MS. 62 Ibid. /28/