- 24 51. At Dromokaiteio Psychiatric Hospital patients who were mobile could address complaints internally to a central office, which ensured that the complaints were registered, received a response, and were the subject of quantitative and qualitative reporting each semester. At Gennimatas Hospital, a patients’ rights officer had the task of directing complaints to the appropriate internal or external body, but both patients and staff said patients were unaware of this possibility. The other establishments visited did not offer such a possibility to patients. No effective external complaints procedure was in place at any of the establishments visited. Patients interviewed knew neither how, nor to whom, to complain if they wished to do so. The CPT recommends that both internal and external complaints procedures, including complaints boxes (to be opened only by specially designated persons, and n confidence), be introduced at all psychiatric establishments. Such procedures and arrangements should allow patients to lodge formal complaints with a clearly designated body, and communicate in confidence with an appropriate authority outside the establishment. 52. Public psychiatric establishments in Greece may be visited by the Special Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Mental Health Disorders, as well as by the Ombudsman’s Office acting in its capacity of National Preventive Mechanism. Both bodies may speak privately with patients, consult all relevant documentation, receive any complaints which they might have and make any necessary recommendations. Nevertheless, it was clear that visits by either body were not particularly frequent, due primarily to a lack of resources. Further, in practice, patients’ complaints were received either indirectly, via the family, or once the patient was discharged. No visits were made by the above-mentioned bodies to private sector institutions (see also paragraph 18). As borne out by numerous observations during the visit concerning Athina Private Psychiatric Clinic in particular, the CPT recommends that this significant monitoring gap be remedied urgently, and that appropriate external supervisory bodies are provided with the necessary resources to make frequent and unannounced visits to all places – including private clinics – where involuntary patients are hospitalised. 53. As regards contacts with the outside world, all patients were quite free to receive visits from family and friends. It was also not uncommon for home visits of a day or longer to be approved at the psychiatric units at the three general hospitals. Whereas patients were allowed to keep their mobile phones at Sotiria Hospital’s Psychiatric Unit, mobile phones with a camera function were not allowed at Dromokaiteio Hospital, for privacy reasons, but patients there were allowed to use payphones with phone cards. Several patients at Athina and Dromokaiteio complained that the times during which they were allowed to receive phone calls was quite limited, for example not allowing them to speak to friends and family when they are available rather than at work. The CPT recommends that all involuntary patients benefit from facilitated contact with the outside world; this includes, for example, allowing for more flexible time periods for phone access at the Athina Clinic and at Dromokaiteio Psychiatric Hospital.