• the exclusion from or lower prioritisation of mental health in the social policy and the general policy on health
• the further fragmentation and weakening of the network of mental health structures
• the burn-out of mental health professionals.
The Ombudsman has repeatedly reviewed reports which raise issues of violation of the rights of the mentally ill, and has
presented in detail the social and legal dimensions of these issues, considering that the rights to the protection of health and
social reintegration are at risk, while the interested parties are legally and truly unable to defend their rights.
The Ombudsman has stressed that the conviction of Greece by the European Court of Human Rights (case Venios v. Greece,
2011), regarding the forced commitment of a patient in a psychiatric clinic, imposes that immediate measures are taken to
protect the human rights of the mentally ill. Moreover, the conviction due to violation of Article 5 of the ECHR is a challenge
for the country's judicial and prosecution authorities.
The Court expressly refers to texts of the Ombudsman in order to record the situation prevailing in Greece. The Ombudsman has
repeatedly encountered similar cases, such as cases of involuntary examination and hospitalisation in a psychiatric hospital
(2004), while in 2007 there was an investigation ordered into the involuntary hospitalisation of mentally-ill patients.. With these
interventions, the Ombudsman tried to highlight the violations of the rights of the mentally-ill and mobilise the competent
agencies. Unfortunately, the response was not satisfactory. According to a report by the Ombudsman regarding the detention of
persons of unsound mind in psychiatric hospitals (2005), the hospitalisation of the patients is impeded by the detention work.
This contradiction between the detention and the treatment of the patients of unsound mind is inherent in cases where the
security measure of Articles 69 and 70 of the Penal Code applies. Assigning to psychiatric units the imprisonment of
"criminals" of unsound mind is a legal paradox and renders imperative a special framework for the hospitalisation of persons
of unsound mind by the co-competent Ministry of Health and Justice.
Visits - On-site inspections
On 11 December, the Ombudsman carried out a visit - on-site inspection at the Psychiatric Hospital of Attica (PHA - Dafni),
following up on to the Authority's related reports, as well as in the context of the NPM competences. The 6 deaths of patients
during 2014-2015 (suicide 19.6.2014, homicide by a restrained patient of another patient restrained on the bed 17.5.2015, arson
and death of 3 patients 4.9.2015, involuntary death of a patient who attempted suicide, escaped the hospital grounds and was
found dead outside of them 24.9.2015), as well as the repeated reports to the Ombudsman and the Special Committee for the
Control and Protection of the Rights of the Mentally-ill of the Ministry of Health for violation of rights of the mentally-ill patients in
the PHA demonstrate that the measures taken to manage the crisis are clearly inadequate. The Ombudsman will evaluate the
recommendations by the Administration of the PHA and will correspondingly intervene towards the Ministries of Health and
Justice, in order for measures to be taken promptly Finally, a team from the Ombudsman carried out, on 22-24 September 2014,
an on-site inspection of all hospital and non-hospital structures of the State Hospital - Health Centre of Leros, completed the
evaluation of the finding and presented its conclusions in 2015. While during the visit we recorded serious damages to the
building infrastructures, shortages in the patients' food and the supply of quality care, we note that after the Ombudsman's visit,
the Administration decided to close down and transfer the departments that were operating under unacceptable conditions to
new buildings with better infrastructures, while improving the quality of the care to the extent possible.
INSTITUTIONS
On 17 July, the NPM visited the Lechaina Branch for People with Disabilities, in order to investigate the living conditions and the
protection of the rights of the guests, following up on the 2011 report by the Ombudsman. During this visits, the NPM discovered
that the problems have grown, on the one hand due to the amendment of the legislative framework and the merger, at regional
level, of the social care units, and on the other hand due to the fiscal commitments of the country and the inability to hire staff in
them. In particular, there is a shortage of liquidity required to cover basic needs for food, clothing, diapers, gas, and general
shortage of funds for hiring subsidiary staff, setting up activity, education and recreation programmes, purchasing equipment,
such as wheelchairs, etc. The staff is not sufficient for the elementary operation of the unit, and certain patients are restrained at
all times, while children and adults are still being placed in wooden beds that are enclosed on all sides (cages), in violation of the
recommendations of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT/ Inf/E Rev 2009 “The CPT Standards”). The
existing staff, which seems to be making superhuman efforts, are showing signs of health problems and burn-out, while the
complete lack of social workers renders impossible any possibility for the promotion of adoption, fostering, management of
voluntary support programmes, etc.
The NPM underlines, thus repeating the positions expressed by the Ombudsman in the past, that the planning and scheduling of
the gradual closing down of welfare units with an asylum character, such as this centre, is advisable, with simultaneous
replacement by foster programmes and small family-type units, which will operate inside residential areas in order to ensure a
link with the local communities, according to the principles of the deinstitutionalisation policy promoted in the EU (for other
facilities where minors are accommodated, see "Social insurance and solidarity").
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