1.6 Visit to the Idrija psychiatric hospital It was proposed by the NPM that the hospital decorates the patients’ rooms, especially the hallways, with their works which have aesthetic and pleasing (optimistic) value. Decorating the rooms for patients is also a visual stimulation which makes the rooms more cosy and patient-friendly. The hospital explained that after the last visit of the NPM and according to its recommendations, they decorated the common areas for the patients in intensive care units with pictures and other appropriate objects. Decoration of other units will be done according to a long-term project of investment works which will unify and provide an overall look of all hospital units in order to ensure a long-term encouraging and friendly environment for persons who are treated in the hospital. The hospital should necessarily take into account the recommendations of the experts regarding the adequate safety of the patients and hospital staff. Efforts to improve the safety and quality of services are one of the main hospital’s tasks for the future; ensuring a friendly, safe and clean environment for the well-being of the patients is the main priority of the hospital. Hospital’s efforts to provide a patient-friendly environment ensuring the highest possible level of safety is certainly noteworthy. The NPM recommends the hospital to notify the patients that it is possible to wear their own everyday clothes and encourage them to do so except in cases when the patient’s special medical condition makes it difficult or impossible. In its response report, the hospital stated that the patients in the hospital wear their everyday clothes with the exception of some specific criteria which necessitate the use of hospital clothes. These are: - health measures - the patient wears hospital clothes due to health reasons (acute psychopathological states, physical illness, injuries, different degrees of incontinence), - hygiene measures - the patients wear hospital clothes to respect the legal provisions of the programme on prevention and control of hospital infections, - social measures - individual approach depending on the social situation of the patient; if the patients do not have their own clothes, relatives or financial resources to pay for the laundry expenses, they use the hospital clothes. The hospital stated that the personnel will continue to regularly agree on patients wearing everyday clothes and consider an agreement and specific measures to lower the share of patients in hospital clothes by respecting the human integrity in the hospital, the individuality of the patients and the specificity of their medical condition. It was proposed that the hospital ensure that the temperature in the rooms and common areas of the units will be appropriate for the patients’ clothes and allow for a cosy and safe stay in every unit. The hospital responded to NPM’s recommendation stating that this recommendation is unjustified and unfounded. The hospital stated that the renovation of the hospital units provided for good accommodation possibilities for patients and ensured a cosy living environment for its users. During autumn and winter, the hospital pays special attention to maintaining adequate temperatures, especially in the units where patients are more vulnerable to environmental effects due to their medical condition, age or other reasons (for example, in the gerontopsychiatric unit). The measured temperature met the technical requirements and norms of the profession and was within limits that ensure comfortable living. Since the hospital’s reply did not object to the measured temperatures or stated that they are higher, it can be concluded that the temperatures around 20 and 21 degrees are normal temperatures in the special surveillance units. Given the fact that some patients wear their pyjamas also during the day and that there are few physical activities in the units, the NPM would like to repeat its recommendation as it is believed that this temperature does not allow for comfortable living (for everyone). It should be noted that the representatives of the Ombudsman and NGOs felt cold during their visit even though they wore rather warm clothes. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2013 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT 125