Mental Health Units, Emergency Departments and other hospital and care environments are places where higher levels of aggression and frustration can occur. Within these environments there can be specific locations/areas which have an even greater concentration of aggression and frustration. These locations can be described as Hot Spots. (Gillespie et al 2018).   In the safe wards literature, the physical environment is one of six domains or categories of factors that can give rise to flashpoints, which have the capacity to trigger conflict and/or containment.  (Bowers, 2014).

This article will explore how to identify Hot Spots (and Hot What’s) and some solutions to address them.