BackIn 2023, the Ombudsman’s Children’s Division focused on children and young people in the psychiatric sector by means of a number of monitoring visits.
This focus area was chosen because children and young people with a psychiatric diagnosis can be in a particularly vulnerable situation. This is especially true for children and young people who need to be hospitalised in the psychiatric sector. Add to this, that the legislation allows different forms of force to be used towards this group of children and young people.
During the monitoring visits, the Ombudsman was especially focused on:
- information for custodial parents
- immobilisation and restraint
- house rules and the departments’ possible use of ‘seclusion in own room’
- inclusion of children and young people in their own treatment plans and in their everyday life in the department.
The Ombudsman’s general impression was that the children and young people were treated with care and respect and that the staff provided a professional and committed service. It was also the Ombudsman’s impression that the staff were knowledgeable about the rules on force and were working on reducing use of force.
However, the Ombudsman did find various issues where there was a need for improvement. Among other things, the departments’ completion of protocols on use of force and record keeping could be improved. He also pointed out that several departments did not offer or carry out the so-called follow-up interviews in accordance with the rules.
On that background, the Ombudsman generally recommends that the departments of child and adolescent psychiatry focus on record keeping and that follow-up interviews are held in accordance with the rules. Furthermore, the Ombudsman generally recommends that the departments ensure that the mandatory review of forced immobilisation takes place in accordance with the time restrictions stipulated in the Mental Health Act.
The Ombudsman carried out monitoring visits to 20 inpatient wards in a total of nine departments of child and adolescent psychiatry, thereby visiting all Denmark’s departments of child and adolescent psychiatry where children and young people can be hospitalised.
The Ombudsman will discuss the follow-up on the general recommendations with the Ministry of the Interior and Health and follow up on them during future monitoring visits.
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FACTS
Generally on the Ombudsman’s monitoring visits
- The Parliamentary Ombudsman carries out regular monitoring visits in public and private institutions, especially where people are or can be deprived of their liberty.
- The monitoring visits are carried out in cooperation with DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture and the Danish Institute for Human Rights, which contribute with medical and human rights expertise.
- The Ombudsman’s Children’s Division carries out monitoring visits to institutions for children.
- Every year, a theme is chosen for the year’s monitoring visits to both institutions for children and institutions for adults.
- Every year, a report is made in which the Ombudsman summarises and communicates the most important results of the year’s thematic visits.
- The Ombudsman regularly makes public which institutions etc. he has visited, and he also makes public the concluding letters to the institutions, in Danish.
Source: The Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman
