Security Information

Visitors and family play an important role in the welfare of our patients, however, a visiting policy is essential to promote the health, safety, privacy and infection prevention and control, of our patients and our community.

All visitors to the Hatherton Centre, Ellesmere House and Clee will require collecting from reception and escorting to the area they are visiting.

We have provisions for child visiting. This requires to be agreed with the Multi-Disciplinary Team before these visits go ahead. Please contact the Ward Charge Nurse in the first instance.

Friends and Family Visitors

For visitors to the medium and low secure wards, photographic proof of identity will be required when you visit. There will be provision provided with lockers for valuables (including personal effects such as handbags etc) or items that are prohibited onto the ward areas.

Professional Visitors

All professional visitors must provide photographic identification or no access will be allowed. In instances where no photographic identification can be provided admission will only be authorised when verification is sought.

Parking is free, but there is an automatic number plate recognition system in use at this site. Therefore, you must register your car number plate (ask staff when you arrive) to avoid a fine. There is a 30-minute grace period, during which, no fine will be issued

Prohibited items are excluded because their makeup or properties could be hazardous. This may be because they could be used to harm others, because of their harmful properties (such as drugs or alcohol) or their illegality.
Restricted items may also be potentially hazardous. This may be because they could be used to cause distress, to self-harm or to harm others.

These items may be restricted but not excluded because they can be valuable tools in encouraging normalisation and resisting institutionalisation, providing rehabilitative, social, educational, recreational and diversionary value.

These items will be risk assessed.

Access to some restricted items is a necessary function of forensic inpatient services in order to facilitate aspects of patient treatment and rehabilitation. Patients will be preparing for safe transfer to care in the community; this requires increasing exposure to restricted items that may be freely available in the destination/setting. Individual risk assessments/mitigation plans will be completed.

Access to E-Cigarettes by inpatients will be permitted following a risk assessment and approval from the MDT and managed within the guidelines set out in “The use of e-cigarettes/vapes for inpatients to assist in the management of the Smokefree Policy”.

The use of mobile phones by inpatients within the secure areas will be permitted following risk assessment and approval from the MDT and managed within the guidelines outlined within the “Use of Mobile Phones by Patients on in-patient areas” SOP.

Please note that other than inpatients with access to mobile phones, no staff, visitors or professional visitors are permitted to enter the secure areas with a mobile phone.

Please see Contraband Items List (pdf) to download more information.

Delivering Least Restrictive Practice Training to all directorate staff, providing an understanding of what Least Restrictive Practice is, leading to a wide range of discussions and ultimately ensuring restrictions are being reduced, reviewed and are proportionate, whilst maintaining safety for all.

Least Restrictive Practice

Some of our accomplishments so far:

• Least Restrictive Practice is now an agenda item at community meetings
• We offer support to patients who feel restricted
• We have improved access to:
  • Garden areas
  • E-cigarettes
  • Mobile Phones
  • Shop goods - Trolley Service
  • Access to Latest Game Consoles
  • Fortnightly Service User LRP Meetings
  • Patient Internet Acces on the Wards
    • Improved access to Educational Resources
  • Wi-Fi Enabled Devices
  • Smart TVs
  • Bigger TV Screens
  • Reduction of searches carried out
• All staff within the directorate attend our annual "Least Restrictive Practice Training"

Effective relational security is critical to providing safe, purposeful and well-led services. See Think Act was first published by the Department of Health for medium secure care in 2010. In 2015, the Quality Network for Forensic Mental Health Services along with Elizabeth Allen, the original author of the work, undertook a review with high, medium and low secure providers, patients and their friends and family, of what we’ve learned since the first publication.

The third edition has been published and more information can be found here.