Romania: Strengthening the provision of health care and mental health care in prisons

The Council of Europe implemented a 24-month project to support Romania in its efforts to strengthen the provision of health care and mental health care in their prisons in line with the Council of Europe standards and ECtHR case law.

The project was implemented by the Cooperation in Police and Deprivation of Liberty Unit in cooperation with the main partners, the Ministry of Justice, the National Administration of Penitentiaries and the Ministry of Health.

To this end, the project focused on policy, regulatory framework and operational approaches:

Policy and regulatory framework level:

The project supported the development of a strategy/policy document on human resources in order to attract medical staff to work in prison system and assisted the Romanian authorities with legal analysis and recommendations on improving the regulatory framework on the provision of health care in prison system.

2. Operational level:

The project enhanced knowledge and skills of medical and no-medical staff on medical ethics specific for the prison environment, such as respect of patient confidentiality, as well as recording injuries, especially injuries resulted from ill-treatment, and on the health screening process of inmates upon admission in prison.

The project developed protocols to deal with prisoners suffering from mental health problems and increased the capacities of medical and non-medical staff to provide health care to patients suffering from mental health issues.

The project started on 1 January 2022 and was completed on 31 December 2023 with a total budget of 440.000 Euros financed by the Human Rights Trust Fund.

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Back Multidisciplinary work to improve treatment of prisoners with mental health problems in Romania

16 representatives from four prisons of Romania representing medical and non-medical personnel successfully completed a training of trainers on managing prisoners with mental health on 17-19 October 2023 in Bucharest, Romania. The aim of the training was to equip multidisciplinary teams with the necessary knowledge and skills to implement a protocol developed prior to the training and to prepare them for passing the knowledge on to their peers.

In the course of the 3-day training the participants had a possibility to learn more and reflect on the importance of multidisciplinary teams, outpatient care and treatment, vulnerable groups, de-escalation of agitated patients and personal safety. Specific cases of challenging behaviour were also discussed and analysed.

As a follow up in the coming months, the trainees will share the knowledge and information gained as a result of this training with their colleagues.

The training of trainers was held within the framework of the Council of Europe cooperation project ”Strengthening the provision of health care and mental health care in prisons in Romania” which aims to assist the Romanian authorities in their efforts to improve health care provided to prisoners as well as psychiatric care in line with the Council of Europe standards and the European Court of Human Rights case-law.

Romania 25.10.2023