The psychiatric clinic at Nicosia general hospital needs more staff as well as better segregation of patients according to the type of treatment they receive, the ombudswoman has recommended in a report made public on Thursday.

Maria Stylianou-Lottides’ report was based on an on-site visit to the psychiatric clinic that took place on November 7 last year. The inspection, carried out in the ombudswoman office’s capacity as the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, followed a complaint submitted by a former patient at the clinic.

During the visit, an officer from the ombudswoman’s office spoke with staff and patients.

Overall, the state of the clinic was deemed adequate – clean, tidy, with plenty of windows for fresh air and sunlight, and a relatively good degree of privacy for the patients.

On the minus side, the inspection found certain issues needing improvement. The report recommends the hiring of one additional full-time psychiatrist, more nurses, and at least one social worker.

Currently, the clinic employs one full-time psychiatrist, two part-time psychiatrists, four psychologists, and one occupational therapist. Nurses work in shifts – five in the morning, five in the afternoon, and two in the evening.

The clinic has capacity for 20 patients at any given time. The average stay is between eight to ten days.

At the time of the inspection, six of the beds were taken up by patients undergoing treatment for alcohol addiction. These patients were not separated from patients undergoing psychiatric treatment.

Moreover, there were no separate wards or sections for female and male patients.

There were six rooms with two beds each, and two rooms with four beds each.

Inside the patient rooms, privacy was provided by the use of divider curtains.

Another issue flagged was intermittent supply of medicinal treatments, with patients sometimes forced to secure prescriptions through the general health system or Gesy.

Because of this situation, the length of stay for some patients is prolonged, the report noted.

Otherwise, the facilities themselves were generally satisfactory. The clinic avails of a kitchen as well as a gym.