- 10 13. An extensive multi-pavilion complex occupying 100 acres of parklands in suburban Athens, Dromokaiteio Psychiatric Hospital was initially established as a private institution in 1887, and partly integrated into the Greek national health system during the 1980s. In accordance with the founder’s will, the majority of governing Board members are private individuals, limiting somewhat the powers of the State-appointed Director. The CPT’s delegation was informed that this management structure could not adversely affect the Hospital’s ability to provide care and services to patients. Dromokaiteio Hospital has a capacity of 588 beds. On the first day of the visit it provided care for a total of 424 patients: 224 in 8 in-patient wards, while 200 patients were accommodated in (mostly off-site) psychosocial rehabilitation units (boarding homes and hostels). The Hospital receives voluntary patients, patients placed involuntarily, 8 and patients who have been declared criminally irresponsible and placed in psychiatric confinement by court order. 9 The number of immigration detainees referred to the Hospital from different hotspots/immigration centres has increased considerably in recent years. The Hospital also receives detained persons brought directly from police stations, as well as prisoners who could not be (adequately) treated at Korydallos Prison Psychiatric Hospital (e.g. women). The average duration of placement in the Hospital’s short-term departments was 24 days. 14. Psychiatric assessments in view of an involuntary placement order are carried out at one of the country’s three psychiatric hospitals or, as part of decentralisation efforts, at 41 in-patient psychiatric wards established in General Hospitals. Nevertheless, the closure of several psychiatric hospitals in the regions, coupled with the still insufficient geographical coverage or capacity of psychiatric wards in General Hospitals, meant – apart from the general problem of overcrowding – that patients from many (small, remote) Greek municipalities are often assessed in (and if necessary admitted to) institutions in the Attica district. The CPT’s delegation visited in-patient psychiatric units at three General Hospitals in Athens: Evangelismos, Gennimatas and Sotiria. 15. Evangelismos General Hospital, located in a densely populated neighbourhood of central Athens, is one of the largest public hospitals in Greece. The Psychiatric Unit occupies the 9th floor of one of the Hospital’s buildings. The official capacity of the Unit is 20 patients, but this number is regularly expanded, with the addition of up to 20 auxiliary beds in the Unit’s corridor. Occupancy levels fluctuated, with 22 patients present during the delegation’s first visit, whereas during the second visit two days later (after the Unit’s rostered duty day for psychiatric assessments), it accommodated 27 patients, 17 of whom were involuntary. The highest occupancy experienced by the Unit was 43 patients, in 2017. The average length of stay at the Unit in 2017 was just under 32 days. However, four patients had been accommodated in the Unit for more than two years, two of whom were admitted as far back as 2012.10 8 9 10 See paragraphs 11 and 49. Court-ordered placements under Article 69 of the Criminal Code could only be served in civil psychiatric hospitals. At the time of the visit there were 138 such interned patients: 85 at Dafni, 35 at Thessaloniki, and 18 at Dromokaiteio Psychiatric Hospital. Staff explained that one foreign patient could not be properly identified, and the other patient’s family refused to retrieve him; see also paragraph 18.