1.1 Visits to social care institutions (residential homes for the elderly) Care for residents Morning and evening care, including brushing teeth, washing face, body, and extremities, is conducted daily. Anogenital care is also provided daily, in some places even twice a day (Ptuj RH). Underwear is also changed once daily. Residents are bathed and given a shower weekly (Velika Polana, Ptuj), every 10 days (Škofja Loka Centre, Radlje ob Dravi), every 14 days (Jesenice), or as needed. Hair and nails are cut and groomed as needed, and residents also have the option of visiting a hairdresser themselves. In some places anogenital care is also provided to incontinent residents at noon (Trebnje HE). Beds are generally changed once per week, every 14 days (Jesenice), or as needed. Incontinence aids are changed three or four times a day (Jesenice RH) or as needed. The residents must pay for receiving more aids than is determined in the standards prescribed, unless they are provided by their relatives (Ptuj RH). The number of incontinence aids recognized by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS) is, according the opinion of the majority of homes, insufficient, as in most cases a higher number must be provided to residents. Jesenice Retirement Home has a permanent stock of extra diapers donated by citizens who no longer need them, and as needed this stock is supplemented. We commend this sort of behaviour on the part of a home which provides residents with extra incontinence aids. In Radlje ob Dravi Home for the Elderly, employees recommended the use of incontinence pants, which residents have warmly approved of, be included into the standard in order to maintain residents’ independence and well-being. We recommended that Radlje ob Dravi Home for the Elderly submit this recommendation to ZZZS in writing. Immobile residents are seated in wheelchairs, depending on their health, well-being, and wishes, two or more times per day, or as needed. Some homes also put their residents in wheelchairs during the weekend, which we heartily commend (Trebnje HE). During meal times residents of secure wards are fed in the ward (Trebnje, Radlje ob Dravi, Velika Polana). Those residents who are capable, are served in the main cafeteria (Črni Vrh RH). Homes do not place limits on the time needed for eating, and residents are helped by staff at the ward, or by their relatives (for residents with dementia) who are present at the ward during meal times (Trebnje HE). Rest time is provided after lunch when there are no organized guided activities. A general practitioner visits the residents when agreed upon with the home representatives. Some practitioners visit their retirement homes 4 times per week (Trebnje, Radlje ob Dravi,Škofja Loka Centre) and other every second Saturday of the month (Radlje ob Dravi ). In some cases, practitioners are present every weekday (Ptuj, Jesenice) or once per week and in cases of emergency (Črni Vrh). The need for medical attention is assessed daily and recorded in the resident’s file, where doctor’s visits are also recorded. If the residents cannot visit the doctor themselves, the doctor visits them in their room. Homes also record regular check-ups. The practice at homes is such that the list of residents to see a doctor is submitted to the outpatient nurse organizing the check-up (Trebnje), and changes to a resident’s health are recorded in the resident’s file (Velika Polana, Jesenice, Ptuj (Koper unit)). Changes to therapy methods and other medical measures ordered by the doctor are also recorded in the resident’s file. Sometimes a file is kept on what is happening at the ward in a physical form, where medical peculiarities and observations for an individual resident are recorded (Velika Polana), or as needed after a doctor’s visit they are also recorded in the Protocol book, where medical history, vital functions, and other indicators are also added (Ptuj). Medical records are kept in the outpatient service. Health care is available to residents all seven days of the week. Jesenice Retirement Home has a list of health care services, where such services are recorded daily. Medication is kept in a room that is accessible only to staff. At the Trnovo Centre for the Elderly, a named list of residents which receive certain medications was located on the wall in the cafeteria. We alerted the home about this, as it is not allowed to display information from medical documentation in a place where people other than medical staff can access such information. NPM’s expert also found that two residents at Trnovo Centre for the Elderly are prescribed the use of Haldol as needed. The expert’s opinion regarding this is that the “as needed” should be explained. The expert was also of the opinion that, before prescribing psychopharmacotherapy to residents who are unable to provide their own consent to health procedures in the secure ward due to their failing cognitive abilities, consent should be acquired from residents’ relatives. 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 43