Frequently, numbers of care staff in care homes were insufficient, in particular at night, which directly affects the quality of service provided. On several occasions, the Chancellor’s advisers formed the impression that even though the staff of the institutions were dedicated to their work and cared about the clients, clearly not enough specialists were available to deal directly with clients. More than the statutory minimum number of staff are required if clients are in need of special care and the building has a specific character. In that case, an institution should be able to deploy more competent and motivated staff to deal with the clients. In several care homes, the Chancellor’s advisers found unlawful restriction of freedom of movement of clients – the practice of locking doors of departments as well as rooms, thus impeding residents from freely moving around. The general care home service is provided on a voluntary basis, i.e. at a person’s own request (i.e. these are not closed institutions where individuals may be kept against their will). It is inadmissible to restrain persons either physically (locking or using means of binding) or by using medication. Freedom of movement was restricted mostly for clients with dementia and serious memory problems whose behaviour could be problematic and unpredictable and who are difficult to handle. In view of this, the Chancellor sent a memorandum to the Ministry of Social Affairs in autumn 2016 and requested that development of a care service aimed at persons suffering from dementia and having reached the retirement age should be initiated. In the reply, the Ministry of Social Affairs agreed with the Chancellor’s proposal and considered it necessary to create a suitable legal framework for providing a service for elderly people with dementia and to develop the respective service. The Ministry in its reply also pointed out that the principles of funding social services should be reviewed in the course of the administrative reform to ensure the capacity of local authorities. In July 2017, the Chancellor wrote about the problems of general care services and the funding of the social sphere in a circular concerning the quality of the general care service. The aim was to draw the attention of all general care service providers to the shortcomings found during the inspections, so as to contribute to improving the quality of the service and prevent possible violations. The Chancellor’s advisers also discussed the issue of the rights of the elderly at the autumn conference “Elderly patients in healthcare institutions” organised by Tartu University Clinic and Ida-Viru County Central Hospital in autumn 2016. The Chancellor’s advisers discussed the challenges facing healthcare institutions and medical professionals at the bioethics seminar “Right to freedom versus the right to protection of health – an inevitable and unmanageable moral conflict?” organised in cooperation between the Estonian Bioethics Council and the Ministry of Social Affairs on 16 December 2016. In a special edition of the law journal 9