Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights on the activities of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture in Poland in 2017 Systemic problems The systemic problems identified in the last years have not yet been properly solved by those responsible for relevant legislative work in Poland 103. The issue of performance by SCH staff members of the role of legal guardians of incapacitated persons A situation in which one person is an SCH employee and, at the same time, a guardian of an incapacitated person is not a good solution because of the problems arising from the combination of the two roles (the lack of impartiality that is necessary to take due care of the home resident’s interests but that cannot be maintained since the employee is formally answerable to the SCH director). The issue of CCTV monitoring Security and the right to privacy will always be in contradiction to each other. Only wise and well-balanced legislation can reconcile the two values. Unfortunately, there is a lack of such legislation applicable to social care homes. The problem of alcohol abuse by some residents, and the lack of SCHs for residents with alcohol-related problems As many as 10% of SCH residents may have alcohol-related problems The problem certainly cannot be considered a marginal one. According to the findings of the NMPT, in most social care homes for senior persons or persons with chronic somatic diseases there are some residents with alcohol problems. In some of the visited facilities, the share of such persons in the total number of residents was as high as 10%. However, the possibility to place alcohol-abusing persons in SCHs in which they would undergo a relevant therapy is limited because of the low number of such facilities. 103 On 30.01.2018 the Commissioner for Human Rights forwarded a letter of intervention to the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy concerning the protection of the rights of residents of social care homes. He requested the minister to take a position on the existing systemic problems relating to the work of social care homes; letter ref. no. KMP.575.7.2016 53