1.1 Visits to social care institutions (residential homes for the elderly) At the Danijel Halas Home, we were concerned that the Home’s Regulations on Complaint Procedures determine that the person submitting the complaint first receives an explanation related to resolving the comment, recommendation, or opinion (as recorded in the complaint log or as submitted in the complaint box) from the Home’s professional head, while the said head prepares a written explanation only upon the express request of the person submitting the complaint. It was not clear from these regulations how the person submitting a complaint is informed of the findings based on the complaint procedure and of the measures adopted. The NPM then recommended after a complaint procedure has been resolved that the Home inform the claimant in writing about the results of the procedure, findings, and measures in all cases where a written complaint was received, as well as in the cases where a significant violation or mistake was alleged. In its reply, the home reported that the housekeeper, who spends the majority of her day with the residents and who knows them best, resolves residents’ orally submitted routine requests as they come, such as those regarding the temperature of food, problems with the toilets, other requests, etc. They have not received any more serious written complaints from residents of the secure ward, but in the event that they do have such, they will sit down and have a conversation with residents and their special case guardians, as the home is of the opinion that it makes little sense to issue a written explanation to a resident diagnosed with dementia, as they will not understand its meaning, much less its content. The Home is thus of the opinion that an oral complaint resolution procedure is more apt, as the explanation can thus be repeated as many times as necessary. While NPM approves of competent persons’ quick responses to residents’ oral complaints, it nonetheless maintains its recommendation about written replies (which naturally do not exclude oral clarification) to written complaints and/or allegations of serious violations. During our visits, we also examined written complaints from residents and their relatives for the last few months prior to our visit. As homes explained to us, and as we determined ourselves from the documentation available, residents of wards suffering from dementia as a rule do not submit complaints in writing. NPM determined that complaint and objection procedures were as a rule sufficiently explained, while in one of the homes we visited we discovered that the Human Rights Ombudsman’s statement was missing from the leaflet on the protection of residents’ rights, wherefore we recommended that the leaflet be supplemented. Contact with the outside world Residents of the secure ward have most of their contacts with the outside world through ward employees, their relatives and other visitors, and through volunteers. The level of volunteering provided in individual homes can vary. The home’s location can be an obstacle in acquiring new volunteers. This is the case at the Bor HE, where they do not have volunteer programs in place due to the area’s small size and the related daily emigration of the younger population, which is the stock of potential volunteers, to other towns and cities for school. Usually, volunteers come from primary and secondary schools, as well as from colleges and other higher education institutes, where volunteer work is a part of electives or is a required part of the study program. Some volunteers continue their work even after the school year or study program is over. There are also a lot of volunteers from the Red Cross Slovenia and Slovenian Karitas. Some homes also have former employees (e.g. retired persons) among their volunteers. It is worth mentioning that residents of the home itself are sometimes among the volunteers, as they visit other residents or volunteer for other tasks (e.g. caring for the home’s animals, doing gardening work, etc.). Some homes also employ individuals sentenced to carry out work to the common benefit. The cooperation with the residents’ relatives varies per home. In some homes, regular meetings between residents and their relatives are organized. Some homes (Jesenice, Trnovo) organize various informative lectures for the relatives of the dementia patients, which can be also be attended by other interested parties. This is the way homes try to be of support for the relatives of those with dementia, and thus contribute to breaking down societal taboos around the issue. There are also various self-help groups for loved ones of those with dementia founded by certain homes. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2013 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT 41