MENTAL HEALTH Removing the Risks
The experts from fire detection and alarm specialist Apollo FireDetectors discuss the importance of finding suitable fire alarm systems in mental health facilities.
Mental health hospitals have been specially designed to protect vulnerable people when they need it most. While being inside one of these dedicated units is undeniably the best place for patients suffering from complex mental health issues, there are still risks to their safety in these settings.
The Guardian reported that more than 200 people committed suicide between 2010 and 2016 while being treated in mental health hospitals in England. This striking figure highlights that, although there are clinical requirements for ensuring patient safety, dangers are still prevalent across multiple secure units in the UK. In addition to this, data from the Office of National Statistics shows that “the most common method of suicide in England and Wales was hanging, accounting for 61.7% of all suicides among males and 46.7% of all suicides among females”.
It is, therefore, necessary to remove anything that could act as a hanging point or be used by patients as a weapon to harm themselves or others within secure psychiatric rooms. The Department of Health has outlined the necessary design, construction and furnishing of non-supervised spaces (for example, in bedrooms and toilets) to ensure patient safety in The Health Building Note 03-01.
The Health Building Note 03-01 states that “all furniture and fittings are required to be robust, anti-ligature, and prevent opportunities for concealment”. This means all furniture and fittings must be designed to remove the possibility of its use as a hanging point. Ensuring standard fixtures, such as bedroom and bathroom furniture, are anti-ligature is easier for some fittings than others.
Devices such as fire detectors, light fittings and ventilation grilles pose a more difficult problem. For these objects, the guidance states they “should be located out of reach of service users – even when standing on furniture or beds – or otherwise protected to avoid tampering and use as ligature points”.
Keeping these objects, especially smoke detectors, out of reach can be very difficult in many mental healthcare settings, however. And, as a standard fire detector does not meet anti-ligature and anti-vandal requirements, due to the possibility of removing the detector from the base, a specialist solution is required.
The most common solution is to install a load release anti- ligature detector in these situations, which operates on a magnetic base with concealed wiring. These fire detectors are designed to safely break free under weight, with the upper unit staying on the ceiling and the lower portion breaking free aſter a self-harm attempt.
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However, while these devices have been approved for use, they can still pose a substantial risk to patients and staff as, once released, the detector itself can be used to cause harm. Also, once the detector is load released, it is no longer operational, meaning it will need to be replaced in order to continue providing adequate fire detection.
Until now, these load release detectors were the only viable option available for use in secure healthcare settings where mounting out of reach is not possible. However, Apollo Fire has developed an innovative new solution as an alternative to these devices. The Apollo Soteria Dimension Specialist Optical Detector has been designed specifically to prevent the complications seen with load release detectors, completely removing the risk to the patient and staff, as well as ensuring continuous fire system integrity.
"Fire detection in
hospitals takes a lot of forethought and effort to get right."
The Specialist Dimension Detector’s innovative design differs from standard anti-ligature fire detectors. Instead of using standard load release technology, this state-of-the-art detector is a fixed anti-ligature and anti-vandal device that is flush mounted and secured with four anti-tamper screws. This means, not only is it impossible to connect a ligature to the detector, but it is also not possible to tamper with or remove any components from it, eliminating any possibility of harm to self or others.
While preventing harm is the main priority, reducing the prevalence of false alarms is also critical. The occurrence of a false alarm is detrimental to any healthcare facility. In mental health wards, however, reducing the number of false alarms
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