Estonia | Inspection visit to the psychiatric department

At the time of the inspection visit there were 25 patients in the department. According to the treatment plan, 7 of them left the hospital at the same day. Patients are placed in wards according to the state of their health – patients with more acute condition are placed closer to the nurse’s room.

Although the hospital had taken into consideration most of the suggestions made after the previous inspection visit, there were still some aspects that should be further addressed. Areas needing additional action are:

- training for the security guards present in the department;

- fitting the room for the use of restraints;

- availability of all documents and information shared by the hospital in Estonian;

- offering occupational therapy;

- availability of the information regarding the use of video surveillance.

Besides aforementioned the Chancellor of Justice made following suggestions to the health care provider:

- hospital’s management board should remove the clause from the department’s internal provisions according to which the patient is obliged to accept all treatments designated by the attending physician;

- Mayor of Narva town should in cooperation with the hospital’s management board elaborate regulations guaranteeing a smooth and timely proceedings for applying involuntary treatment;

- hospital’s management board should elaborate exhaustive and understandable complaints’ handling regulation. The regulation should enact proceedings for lodging and registering complaints, replying to complaints, obligation to give additional explanations, time limits for handling the complaints. A complaint form should be elaborated in all languages used by patients. In addition, the right to address other relevant institutions should be clearly pointed out in the regulation. The complaints’ handling regulation, complaint’s form and the contact details of other complaint mechanisms should be available in all units of the hospital;

- Health Board should examine the smoking room in the department and smoking arrangement’s conformity with law;

- head of the psychiatric department should ensure fulfilment of requirements enacted in the regulation of the Minister of Social Affairs about standard conditions of accommodation in hospital.

Source: Chancellor of Justice website