MONITORING ACTIVITIES RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES IN THE SOCIAL PSYCHIATRIC SECTOR MUST BE SAFE guidelines which do not only cover staff but also threats and violence directed at other residents. At the same time, however, it is important to point out that our impression is that the residential facilities are making great efforts already. In general, the residents we talked with said that they liked and felt safe around the staff. In this way, the residential facilities have a good basis for improving residents’ safety and feeling of safety. The outcome of this year’s visits to residential facilities will be discussed at meetings with both the Ministry for Children and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health in the spring of 2018. The objective of these discussions is to assess whether the formulation of guidelines within the social psychiatric sector can be done centrally with the ultimate intent to improve residents’ safety and feeling of safety. All names of residents mentioned in the article have been changed. The outcomes of the year’s monitoring visits to 13 residential facilities have been gathered in a thematic report (in Danish only), which can be found at www.ombudsmanden.dk/ tilsyn. Please find more information about the Ombudsman’s activities in the monitoring field on pages 36-75. T H E M E O N T H E S O C I A L P SYC H I AT R I C S EC TO R The social psychiatric sector was chosen as the theme for monitoring visits carried out in 2017 by the Ombudsman to institutions for adults in collaboration with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture. The theme consisted of two sub-themes: – Resident safety at social psychiatric residential facilities – S  ector transfers and cooperation between social psychiatric residential facilities and the psychiatric sector Out of a total of 40 monitoring visits to institutions for adults, the Ombudsman visited 13 social psychiatric residential facilities and seven psychiatric wards in connection with the theme for 2017. The criteria which the 13 residential facilities selected by the Ombudsman had to meet included being temporary or long-term residential facilities covered by section 107 or section 108 of the Social Services Act and their target group consisting, among others, of persons with hospital orders and persons with dual diagnoses (a mental health illness combined with a substance abuse problem). Please find more information about the theme, including the Ombudsman’s conclusions and recommendations, on page 38. 35