Report on the Performance of Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2017 1.4. HOMES FOR THE ELDERLY AND INFIRM In 2017, we paid unexpected visits to the homes for the elderly and infirm in Viškovo, Makarska and Osijek in order to establish the level of respect for human rights, with special attention paid to the situations that might constitute limitation of freedom of movement. The Home in Viškovo is a private one, whereas the other two are decentralized, county homes. All the inspected facilities were neat and clean, and great effort was invested in making sure they had the best possible equipment. The lack of staff was an issue in all three homes, which necessarily implied the violation of the rights of accommodated persons. For example, the Home in Osijek had only one nurse and two caretakers in the third shift, taking care of 180 users accommodated in the in-patient wards and 164 users accommodated in the residential part, which was insufficient and could significantly impact the users' safety. In the Home in Viškovo, due to the lack of nurses and caretakers, individual users with mobility issues never ask to get out of bed and go for a walk, so they usually spend their day in bed. There was a similar issue in the Home in Makarska, where due to the lack of caretakers, users with mobility issues and dementia usually do not go out, so one of them, who has been there for five years, never went out for some fresh air. The lack of staff also made employees overburdened, and the users noticed that the caretakers would yell at them when they were too tired. In the majority of cases, accommodation contracts were not signed by the elderly, but by the family members or other persons covering the accommodation costs, which is inadmissible. The in-patient wards often do not have a dining room, because as a rule, in these wards meals are served in the The Home in Osijek had only one nurse and two caretakers in the third shift, taking care of 180 users accommodated in the in-patient wards and 164 users accommodated in the residential part, which was insufficient and could significantly impact the users' safety. In the Home in Makarska, due to the lack of caretakers, one user has not gone out for some fresh air for five years. rooms, despite the wish expressed by individual users to eat together with others. Not enough attention is devoted to adapting special diet menus to individual health conditions and they are not always harmonized with the appropriate guidelines for the nutrition of patients, but for example contain white flour, white rice, etc. In all the homes we noticed an ever-present issue we warned about repeatedly, i.e. during the provision of nursing care in shared rooms, the staff does not use screens or curtains, which violates the users' right to privacy. 32