Retirement and nursing homes Nursing and Residential Homes Residence Act, relevant opportunities to voice complaints must be available and accessible to residents and their relatives. Standardisation and precise specification necessary In order to anchor and further promote the protection of human rights in the daily nursing routine of elderly persons, the rights of residents in nursing homes should be reformulated, standardised throughout the country and, for the purpose of improved enforceability, specified as precisely as possible. Furthermore, it must be guaranteed that the residents are informed of their rights and relatives and other trusted persons know these rights as well. XX  The rights of residents must be standardised throughout the country and specified as precisely as possible with the objective of fully implementing human rights guarantees for the purpose of improved enforceability. XX  It must be guaranteed that residents are informed of their rights, and that relatives and trusted persons know these rights. 2.1.3 Complaint management Complaint management as an important preventive tool Voicing complaints gives each individual including the organisation the opportunity to bring about clarification, sort out misunderstandings and solve problems. For this reason, it is extremely important to the NPM that care facilities have several easily accessible complaint channels in place. This will give clients, their relatives but also volunteers an opportunity to communicate their dissatisfaction or critical observations in a way that seems most appropriate for them. It must therefore be guaranteed that complaints can be submitted verbally, in writing, by telephone, by email but also anonymously. Professional complaint management is an important preventive mechanism to avoid conflict and violence, and should thus motivate those involved to voice their criticism. Staff should be informed about complaint and processing channels and be able to provide information about who deals with which communication form and which content. Transparent complaint management is an expression of an open culture and proof of an endeavour to rectify conflict and the willingness to solve problems. This helps staff to become more confident in properly dealing with criticism. Issues on confidence and relationship level The overwhelming majority of complaints in care facilities that came to light during interviews with the commissions had to do with issues regarding the confidence and relationship level and was linked with concrete negative experiences. If these issues cannot be rectified quickly, the resulting frustration and annoyance can continue to have an effect. 30