NPM may make recommendations to the relevant institutions treating persons with mental disorders, and particularly to the competent authorities, i.e. the Ministry of Health (MZ) and the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MDDSZ) so that necessary measures can be taken to prevent patients or residents from being left on their own during weekends and holidays, and so that they can be offered free-time activities and help them improve or at least maintain their abilities or mental health. The NPM may also submit proposals and comments regarding applicable or draft acts or other legal regulations. Visits to institutions, findings upon visits and responses from individual institutions visited Vojnik Psychiatric Hospital Following the visit to the hospital, the NPM’s general finding was that there were very few activities available to patients at the weekend, which was also obvious from the lists of activities at both the wards that were visited. The patients are usually left on their own and to their own creativity. They can play board games, which quickly lead to conflicts if not guided and supervised by the staff. Since fewer staff are on the wards during weekends, there are few possibilities for such activities. In both wards, we particularly missed activities which patients could implement themselves or with the minimum engagement of the staff. The staff in the female admission ward particularly emphasised good experience in the past with knitting. We thus believe that similar activities could be found with the suitable participation of an occupational therapist, which could be implemented without potentially hazardous objects (knitting needles). Patients are still in the hospital on Friday afternoons, when the workday of the staff responsible for activities of patients ends. The patients remain in the wards, frequently closed in their rooms and communal areas, with short walks outside or visits. We are certain that the most suitable solution would be for sufficient staff to remain on the wards during the weekend who, in addition to their urgent duties, would also be able to oversee the active spending of patients’ free time. We nevertheless believe that patients’ time would be better spent already with the suitable inclusion of, and preparation by, an occupational therapist, irrespective of the number of staff on wards during the weekend on the occasion of our visit. We recommended that an occupational therapist be included in preparing an activity plan for weekends, who should give the staff suitable instructions on implementing activities and provide the necessary materials. It should not be neglected that weekends are not only free time between two (working) weeks, and that the therapeutic process in wards should also be continued at the weekend, thereby contributing to the patients’ speedy recovery, and particularly to their well-being, maintaining work activity and learning new skills. In their response to the preliminary report, the management of the hospital stated that they would consider the recommendations and come to an agreement with all participants about the possibility of implementing the NPM proposals in special supervision wards. Special social care institution Nina Pokorn Home in Grmovje The relevant social care institution takes care of adults with special needs. Since this is their home, where they frequently spend most of their lives, it is even more important that their time is spent qualitatively and that suitable activities are available to them. The residents of the secure ward cannot leave the ward independently; some receive visits occasionally or not at all. We thus emphasised that it was even more important that residents were able to implement activities with which they could spend their free time actively and usefully at weekends, also according to their wishes and needs. When visiting this institution, we recommended that the occupational therapist prepare a list of weekend activities. The list may be general or adjusted to individual residents. The occupational therapist would have to observe the composition of the staff on the ward at the weekend and thus related limited possibility of staff participation in individual activities. A possible option would be for the occupational therapist to give residents ‘homework’ on Friday and also provide them with suitable materials and tools if necessary. If the latter pose a risk to residents, the staff would hand out the tools before the activity. The staff would have to be informed about the ‘homework’ in order to supervise the activity and encourage the resident to complete the work. 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 61