- 22 45. Patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital on an involuntary basis legally have the right to be heard in person by the court during placement or appeal procedures23. However, the CPT’s delegation found that this right is rarely enjoyed in practice. Indeed, out of 2853 cases considered by the Athens Court of 1st instance24 in 2017, only very few patients were personally heard by the judge. Many patients interviewed by the CPT’s delegation had evidently not been notified Staff also stated to the CPT’s delegation that the court notification of the hearing often arrived at the establishment after the date of the hearing or after the patient had been discharged. In addition, a number of patients’ files examined by the CPT’s delegation at Athina Psychiatric Clinic contained a doctor’s opinion that the patient was unfit to attend the hearing; yet the delegation found no reasonable justification for such an opinion in patients’ files or during interviews with the patients and staff concerned. At the Psychiatric Unit at Sotiria Hospital, it was acknowledged that staff usually did not inform the patient about the hearing because this information would be “stressful” for the patient, and, in any case, the Hospital was not in a position to arrange transportation to the hearing. The CPT recommends that the Greek authorities take the necessary steps to ensure that patients benefit, in practice, from the right to be heard in person by the court during placement or appeal procedures. One way to ensure this is for court placement/review hearings to be held in psychiatric institutions. Such arrangements could, in the CPT’s view, facilitate direct contact between all the parties concerned (i.e. the patient, the doctor and the judge), and prevent the court’s role from being reduced to a mere formality, or from being perceived as such. 46. No information brochure was available in any of the establishments visited by the CPT’s delegation. Certain information on rights was shown to patients on admission to Dromokaiteio Psychiatric Hospital, but it was an unclear information document (poor photocopy, in small print) which patients were requested to sign in the course of their admission. At Athina Clinic and the Unit at Evangelismos Hospital most patients interviewed were also unaware of their legal status,25 and it would appear that little or no information on their rights was provided to them. No information about rights was displayed in the corridors of any of the institutions visited. According to information gathered by the CPT’s delegation, patients do not receive a copy of any court decision on involuntary placement in a psychiatric hospital; nor are they otherwise informed, orally or in writing, about the reasons for the decision and the avenues/deadlines for lodging an appeal. The CPT recommends that the Greek authorities ensure that the above shortcomings are addressed. In particular, persons admitted to psychiatric establishments should be provided with full, clear and accurate information, in an appropriate range of languages, setting out the facility’s daily routine and patients’ rights, including information on legal assistance, review of placement (and the patient’s right to challenge this), consent to treatment and complaints procedures; patients unable to understand this information should receive appropriate assistance. Further, all patients should receive a copy of any court decision on their involuntary placement, or be otherwise informed, both orally and in writing, about the reasons for the decision and the avenues/deadlines for lodging an appeal. 23 24 25 See Sections 96.6 and 97 of Law 2071/1992, concerning the initial placement decision and the appeal. Figures for the whole country were not available. Nevertheless, this court is competent for a considerable proportion of such cases in Greece. See the CPT’s 2005 visit report (CPT/Inf (2006) 41), paragraph 149.