Staff’s conduct
We proposed that the management of Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital examine the possibility
of employing another person on ward I3, who could speak with patients and perhaps engage with those
who spend most of their time lying on their beds or wandering aimlessly in the hallway, or the possibility
of including volunteers more in life on the ward.
In their response to the preliminary report, the management of Ljubljana University Psychiatric Hospital
stated that they were not engaging volunteers at the time; only appropriately trained medical staff
speak with patients.
We recommended that the Unit for Forensic Psychiatry of Maribor University Medical Centre observe
the NPM opinion that forcing patients to be involved in occupational therapy with threats of losing their
benefits is not acceptable. The staff should strive to actively engage patients to cooperate; no coercion
is acceptable.
In their response to the preliminary report on the visit in 2016, the management of the Department
of Psychiatry claimed that patients were motivated to participate in occupational therapy within
therapeutic procedures. The staff had been informed of this, and motivation was provided only by
trained occupational therapists.
Contacts with relatives and the outside world
Relating to the fact that sub-unit E1 accommodates patients with the fewest restrictions regarding
contacts with the outside world, we recommended that the Unit for Forensic Psychiatry in cooperation
with Maribor University Medical Centre enable the installation of a computer, which could be used by
individual patients (those with no restrictions on use) independently or as part of occupational therapy.
In their response to the preliminary report on the visit in 2016, the management of the Department of
Psychiatry stated that they were in the process of obtaining new computer equipment for the needs of
the entire Department of Psychiatry, and they were hoping that one of the old working computers could
be installed in E1; however, there was a problem of space, which was lacking until the opening of the
entire unit (additionally with sub-unit E2). The opening of sub-unit E2 was anticipated in 2017.
We recommended that Idrija Psychiatric Hospital consider the possibility of enabling access to the
Internet for patients, since the temporally limited option is not the most suitable now, when access to
information and the possibility of communicating mean a lot to many people.
In their response to the preliminary report, the management of Idrija Psychiatric Hospital explained that
it would examine the possibility of improving access to the Internet also outside the current time frame,
while observing the aspects of ensuring information safety, privacy and therapeutic requirements, but
within limits that are professionally acceptable and founded.
We repeated what had been proposed already in 2013, that Idrija Psychiatric Hospital examine the
possibility of providing at least partial privacy during visits in the communal living area (at least) for
patients and their visitors who so desired, perhaps with the use of screens placed in the section where
it would be least disturbing to life in the ward.
In their response to the preliminary report, the management of Idrija Psychiatric Hospital stated
that they were striving to provide broad possibilities of contact with relatives. During visits, patients
may stay with their relatives in their room, living area, a special room intended for socialising with
relatives, or in the near and wider vicinity of the hospital’s park. The management stated that visits
to patients in secure wards rarely took place at the same time. The main reasons for that were in the
hospital’s remoteness from their place of residence, work obligations of relatives, nature of illness
and poor social network of patients. When patients staying in the same room receive visitors at the
same time, it is agreed individually where the visits will take place. A psychiatrist permitted the
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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
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