-715.
The hospital administrative and medical authorities indicated that they were very anxious
to remedy the above-mentioned deficiencies in the course of current renovation plans.
Personalisation of patients' living areas was among their priorities and they were also
endeavouring to find ways of enabling the patients to have stimulating items, such as toys. In the
much shorter term, the Chairperson of the Board of Management was also trying to deal with
other practical problems, such as making sure that every patient was provided with a pillow.
16.
The CPT once again expresses its satisfaction with the progress made since its last visit
as regards some of the patients' living areas. It recommends the Greek authorities to actively
pursue the execution of the works planned, following the example of the Rainbow Unit,
and to include Pavilion A in them. In this context, special attention must be paid to
providing a differentiated therapeutic and pedagogic environment affording patients
stimulation appropriate to their age and pathology (visual stimuli, personal possessions,
toys or other suitable items). In the meantime, ways must be found of reducing the risk of
accidents in the toilets and washrooms of Pavilions A and C.
17.
In its report on the 1993 visit, the CPT found that there was very little basic equipment
suitable for patients with severe psychomotor handicaps. The number of such patients and of
patients with limited or very limited motor functions was not inconsiderable at the State Mental
Hospital for Children.
At the time of the second visit, there was still a lack of the necessary basic equipment for
such patients, despite the urgency which the Committee attached to its recommendation on this
subject in 1993 (paragraph 232 of its first report). Such equipment would not only enable the
staff to administer care (including bodily care) much more readily, but would also help enable
patients to be lifted from their beds or to leave their rooms or even their units.
The CPT reiterates its recommendation that the basic hospital equipment
appropriate to the patients' needs be made available without delay.
18.
With regard to patient treatment, on its previous visit the CPT had been unable, for lack
of sufficient information, to make a precise assessment of the quality of therapeutic activities.
However, the delegation had observed at the time that the patients were generally understimulated and were offered few individual activities. Attention had also been drawn to the
apparent absence of therapy specific to psychomotor and mental handicaps.
During the second visit, the delegation gathered a certain amount of information,
including statistics, on patients' activities. There is no denying that, where therapeutic activities
are concerned, progress has been very slow. Some forty patients were able to attend occupational
therapy sessions in ten workshops (e.g. crafts, pottery, woodwork, painting, gardening, etc). A
very small number of patients attended school; as in the past, most of the patients were above
school age.