Secure Unit Conflict & Containment

Looking forward to generating some discussions regarding conflict and containment in forensic services. Current issues at my place of work (Low Secure) relate to blanket bans, and promotion of a 'least restrictive' environment whilst attempting to instill firm boundaries. Any ideas or guidance would be most welcome! NB 'blanket bans' is not our attempt to promote the use of duvets! :woohoo:

Hi, and welcome to the forum. I think you should get a prize of some sort for being the first person outside the research team to post a message!

I can't really offer any comment on the precise nature of blanket and specific bans on items, except that these vary a lot by which hospital you work in, and we have not yet managed in our research to find a connection between the number of blanket bans and outcomes. On acute wards. There might well be connections in secure care environments.

With respect to Safewards, when I have discussed implementation with forensic nurses, one of the things we think needs adjustment is what goes in the Calm Down Methods box.

Best wishes,

Len

We have been purchasing items for the Calm Down Box - most have been no problem and we have been able to get things using Petty Cash from local shops etc. We decided to get a Bean Bag but this been more problematic however as we had to get it to a 'Low Secure Specification' (whatever that means!), this meant that instead of costing around £30 we had to go through one of our 'preferred suppliers' and it cost nearly £300!! :ohmy:

Hi Mat,

I am presenting at Broadmore in a few weeks and wondered it it would be all right to reference your comments?

No problem, that will be fine.

Myself and Dario Griffiths (Ward Manager) did our second presentation on Safewards last week. This time at the Rehabilitation & High Support Directorate Quality Day - in front of nearly 100 people (nervous was not the word!!). This went down REALLY well and there was a lot of interest from the other units in the Directorate to pick up on this. Our service manager is also interested in cascading it to other units and one of the Commissioners from NHS England was impressed enough to say that she will be telling other secure units across the North West to link in with us to pursue this initiative. I think Safewards might be catching on in Secure Services!