Safeguarding women in secure psychiatric settings: an analysis of incidents and practice over a three‐year period

Despite widespread work on the process of safeguarding vulnerable adults, there is a relative absence of research in secure psychiatric settings where reliance is placed on external community safeguarding teams. This study analyses safeguarding incidents over a three‐year period in a medium secure psychiatric setting for women. It focuses on incident type, the characteristics of victims and perpetrators and safeguarding processes, including protection strategies. The action implications of the findings are discussed with reference to the unique feature of the patient population and setting and the extant research literature.