could obtain a pen to complete the said form, i.e. any time during the day from the ward staff, was well established. The patients can also write letters to their loved ones or other people important to them, and write complaints about disagreeing on being detained in the secure ward. On this note, the management stressed that the staff observe the mission and values of Idrija Psychiatric Hospital, which were based on awareness of, and respect for, the fundamental rights of every patient, their personal integrity and dignity, their moral and cultural values, religious and philosophical beliefs. They stated that the staff were encouraged to implement their duties independently within the therapeutic programme/ treatment plan, and they would further implement the well-established practice of providing sufficient pens if patients need to submit anonymous comments, commendations, suggestions and opinions about medical treatment. The staff would continue to inform patients about where, when and how they could obtain pens, and would also care for their safety or make sure that patients return the pens. Other Although we are aware that the presence of relatives is disturbing to other patients in fully occupied rooms, we nevertheless proposed that Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital examine the possibility of providing a room for palliative care and the presence of relatives with a dying person. In their response to the preliminary report, the management of Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital wrote that patients were accommodated in a single bedroom in the case of palliative care, where relatives can visit them. We also recommended that Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital observe the recommendations made by the NPM during its 2012 visit and which have not been realised yet. In their response to the preliminary report, the management of Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital stated that they would do their best to observe the current recommendations. We proposed that the Ministry of Health respond accordingly to the wishes and proposals of Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital and promptly inform us about efforts to open a suitably equipped paedopsychiatric ward in Slovenia as soon as possible. On that note, the Ministry should explain to us why Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital did not receive a reply to its proposal for comorbidity treatment, or it should submit the relevant reply to us. In its response, the Ministry stated that it could not discern to which complaint it failed to reply regarding the paedopsychiatric ward and with regard to the complaint for comorbidity treatment. It thus assumed that it was perhaps the question of the new treatment method, which was submitted for discussion by the Health Council, which was competent to make such assessments. Relating to the secure psychiatric ward for children and adolescents, the Ministry further explained that it had called on the expert institutions several times to place the issue of intensive psychiatric discussion of children and adolescents among their priorities. With letter no. 181-337/2013/8 of 12 February 2016, the Ministry asked Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital and the Paediatric Clinic of Ljubljana University Medical Centre to place the establishment of a special secure ward for psychiatric treatment of children and adolescents among their priorities and submit the supplemented programme proposal to the Health Council for discussion as soon as possible. At its session of 27 May 2015, the Application Assessment Committee of the Health Council had already discussed the application of Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital to approve the secure psychiatric ward for children and adolescents, and adopted the decision that the programme was professionally justified and reasonable, but the financial part of the application had to be supplemented. Since the Ministry failed to receive a response, it asked Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital and the Paediatric Clinic of Ljubljana University Medical Centre with letter no. 181-337/2013/9 of 14 March 2016 to place the establishment of a special secure ward for psychiatric treatment of children and adolescents among their priorities and submit the supplemented programme proposal to the Health Council for discussion as soon as possible. The request was also repeated in letter no. 162-3/2016/2 of 21 March 2016, whereby both institutions were asked to state their position on the allegations of Ljubljana Šiška Social Work Centre of 18 March 2016, which informed the Ministry of Health that a growing number 88 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2016 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT