Report on the Performance of Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2016 impeded; and, therefore, it is necessary to ensure additional spatial capacities and equipment, in line with the prescribed minimum criteria. Inability to group the patients according to age and diagnosis has a negative effect on the quality of treatment. Due to inadequate conditions, parents sometimes refuse to have their child hospitalized, despite psychiatrist’s recommendation. Accommodating and treating children in such conditions represents violation of their rights and constitutes degrading treatment. Even though Clinical Hospital Centres Osijek and Rijeka have been included in the list of institutions providing separate accommodation and treatment possibilities for children and adults, this does not function in practice. Unnecessary restriction or violation of rights of persons with mental disorders stem from formal deficiencies, lack of material and human resources and sometimes from insufficient knowledge of international standards and provisions of the Act on Protection of Persons with Mental Disorders. Therefore, it is necessary to improve regulations, organize permanent training of healthcare professionals and ensure necessary financial means. 4. HOMES FOR THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED Restriction of freedom of movement in social care institutions Social care system encompasses many different institutions in which freedom of movement may de facto be restricted. In 2016, we visited three homes for the elderly and disabled, a home for adults and a home for children and youth, following which we issued three warnings and 28 recommendations. a) Restriction of freedom of movement in homes for the elderly and disabled “...It’s been a long time since I last went for a walk in the courtyard. I feel like I’m in prison...” The purpose of our visits to homes for the elderly and disabled was to determine the conditions in which persons under permanent care live, as well the method of their placement into the relevant institution and the manner in which they are being treated there; in addition, special attention was devoted to situations that may represent cases of restriction of their freedom of movement. Lack of knowledge of regulations is one of the reasons why rights of persons under institutional care are being violated. An elderly and disabled person may not be placed in a social care institution against his or her will, unless the person is deprived of legal capacity in regard to the decision on where he or she will live or unless a special guardian has not been determined for this purpose. Consent from family members cannot function as substitute for the consent from the person who is being placed in an institution, whereas every involuntary placement in an institution represents restriction of movement without valid legal basis. 35