consumables, etc. has not only been left without an increase but has even been decreased in certain hospitals despite the consumer price inflation registered by the National Statistical Institute. The shortage of funding leads to the following negative findings: 1. A reduction failing to take inflation into account in the cost of food per day which, as of 30.09.2020, stands at BGN 2.30 at Sevlievo SPH (in comparison to BGN 2.55 in 2011); at Tserova Koria SPH it is BGN 2.29; at Byala SPH – BGN 2.03. 2. The NPM has also found a decrease in the cost of medicines per day which stands at BGN 1.51 at Sevlievo SPH as of October 2020 while it was BGN 4.99 in 2011, i.e. nine years later the cost of medicines per day has dropped almost four times. 3. Highly insufficient funds for bed linen and clothes; for the patients at Byala SPH the amount is BGN 0.02 per patient for the patient’s entire stay. There has also been a downward trend over the past years for a decrease in the number of doctors specialising in psychiatry. The insufficient number of doctors, nurses and attendants creates conditions for untimely treatment of poor quality as well as a risk with respect to the monitoring and care for patients with aggression and autoaggression. An issue is also social rehabilitation and psychological care, the long hospital stays and repeated hospitalisations of persons with a grave social status. There are patients at state psychiatric hospitals (for example, homeless people) who live there on a longterm basis due to the lack of residential social care for persons with mental disorders. In this sense, hospitals perform the unlikely function of social services. 14