MONITORING ACTIVITIES RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES IN THE SOCIAL PSYCHIATRIC SECTOR MUST BE SAFE However, the debate has almost solely been about staff safety. Therefore, the Ombudsman decided to take a closer look at resident safety as a general theme for his monitoring visits in 2017. The theme on the social psychiatric sector consisted of two sub-themes: safety for citizens at residential facilities and cooperation between residential facilities and psychiatric wards. THE FRIGHTENED NEIGHBOUR Mostly, monitoring visits start with the monitoring team having a morning meeting of a couple of hours’ duration with the facility’s management, who show us around at the facility afterwards. In the afternoon, we talk with staff members, residents and any relatives who are interested in a talk. We make a point of talking with as many residents as possible in order to obtain the most true and balanced picture of the institution. In 2017, we visited 13 psychiatric residential facilities and talked with a total of 75 residents. During our visit to another residential facility, management tell us about an incident which took place a few weeks prior to our visit. For some months, two residents, Søren and David, have been provoking each other. Søren, who is 40 years old, and David, who is 34 years old, have been living at the facility for six and eight years, respectively. Both have hospital orders and extensive alcohol and drug abuse problems, and both can look back at numerous hospitalisations within the psychiatric sector. After having been hospitalised for a couple of days, Søren has now been discharged from the psychiatric ward once again. At the residential facility, however, they do not think that Søren was ready for discharge, and in the days after the discharge, Søren’s behaviour has been quite erratic. This culminates three days after the discharge when Søren threatens to kill David and chases him with a butter knife. The staff dial 112 (for emergency services) and manage to get the two separated. After the staff have withdrawn, Søren is still agitated. He gets hold of two golf balls, throws them at a car belonging to one of the staff members and smashes the windscreen. When the police arrive an hour and thirty minutes after the call, Søren has calmed down, but the police take him along after all, and he is hospitalised at a psychiatric ward. While this incident takes place, Søren’s neighbour Lars has been told by staff to stay in his room and lock the door. During our visit, we talk with Lars. He tells us that he often locks himself in his room when Søren goes berserk – and 33