In 2025, the Ombudsman will visit the departments of forensic psychiatry where, among others, persons who have been sentenced to psychiatric detention or treatment are hospitalised.
‘With our monitoring visits, we help to ensure that patients who are hospitalised in the psychiatric departments are treated with respect and consideration and in accordance with their rights’, says the temporary Parliamentary Ombudsman, Henrik Bloch Andersen.
The Ombudsman will visit all eight departments of forensic psychiatry with bed units in the five regions.
During the monitoring visits, the Ombudsman will focus especially on the rights of the forensic psychiatric patients, including whether the regions observe the rules that are meant to contribute to ensuring that forensic psychiatric patients are not hospitalised for longer than necessary. This applies to for instance preparation of treatment plans, leave plans and cooperation with other bodies.
The Ombudsman will also investigate use of force, interventions and restrictions towards the forensic psychiatric patients and the patients’ relations with for instance staff and other patients.
The monitoring visits are carried out in cooperation with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture.
When the monitoring year is over, the Ombudsman will summarise the most significant results in a thematic report.
Further details:
Director of International Relations, Klavs Kinnerup Hede, kkh@ombudsmanden.dk