I would like to thank all involved for making it possible for some of us to attend the recent European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry.

The conference was most informative, and the quality of the presentations was excellent.

As someone working in a forensic setting opportunities like these that allows us  to see how other jurisdictions manage aggression and violence is beneficial from a clinicians perspective but also as a union representative it was helpful due to number of presentations which provided research based evidence supporting some of our arguments both locally and nationally for the provision of “high observation” units as well research showing how staffing levels have a direct impact on levels of aggression and violence.

I also found networking with mental health nurses from the various countries attending most informative as they shared their experiences.

Following the conference, I am now in the process of trying to convince our service to introduce a risk assessment tool that can be useful in identifying when additional staff should be introduced to a unit in an effort to prevent incidents of violence.

Once again please extend my thanks to everyone who agreed to sponsor our attendance.

Niall O Sullivan