KEYNOTE: Ward Design and Safety – Dilemmas, Challenges and Safewards

Synopsis

Safewards (www.safewards.net),  a model and set of interventions shown to decrease incidents of harm on inpatient mental health wards. Safewards has been embraced by services across the world with the Safewards website translated into 10 languages, including German, Spanish and Chinese.

Embedded in Safewards is a consideration of the lived environment and how it influences safety. We will be looking at what the research behind Safewards tells us, the conflicting objectives of the lived environment in terms of “care” and “containment”. The talk will also give thoughts for the future as we address the ongoing challenges of these difficult spaces.