Hospitals and psychiatric institutions There are curtains and screens available but they are not even used when rooms are occupied by both genders. Furthermore, there is neither a visitors’ room nor recreation or therapy rooms for the patients in the ward, which can be used as places to withdraw. From a human rights point of view, it is very worrying that there are no separate sanitary areas for men and women, and the baths and toilet facilities cannot be locked from the inside. The sanitary areas are not barrier-free and are not big enough, for example, for persons confined to a wheelchair. It is not possible to push a wheelchair under the sinks and there are no care baths available. The toilet facilities are not barrier-free either. In response to the criticism of the NPM, the City of Vienna explained that the ward is to be converted in 2020. A recreation room for the patients as well as separate, barrier-free sanitary areas for men and women are planned. In addition, the existing four-bed rooms are to be reduced to three-bed rooms, and two single rooms and one two-bed room is to be created. The recommendation to fit the sanitary areas with locks has already been implemented. In the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Hietzing Hospital – Neurological Rehabilitation Centre Rosenhügel, seven out of 15 beds in ward C3 (adolescent psychiatry) could not be occupied in May 2019 because there were no therapy rooms. Rooms in the basement have since been made available, which has reduced the number of beds blocked. Further adaptations are planned to be able to exploit the full bed capacity as quickly as possible. Beds blocked in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department of Hietzing Hospital The NPM considered the location of the Department of Child Psychiatry at Rankweil Regional Hospital, which is situated in a local area away from the hospital grounds, as negative, because it requires travelling between the two sites. This can cause shortfalls in medical care at night in particular. Construction of new Department of Child Psychiatry at Rankweil Regional Hospital The adaptation of the rooms in the Department of Child Psychiatry was initially only planned as a temporary solution. The NPM thus recommended constructing a new building in close proximity to Rankweil Regional Hospital in the same way as was built for the adolescent psychiatry ward. The existing two-bed rooms in the child psychiatry ward are to be converted to single rooms in order to guarantee the patients’ privacy. In any case, the children in twobed rooms will be able to lock away their personal belongings. In a statement of opinion, the office of the regional government of Vorarlberg assured that the structural changes requested by the NPM were being implemented in an already planned new building. The concept for the new building includes a common area for the wards for the purpose of exploiting staff synergies. The modern space concept plans single and two-bed rooms as well as function and therapy rooms. Opportunities to get exercise that cater to different age groups are to be set up both indoors and outdoors. 48