Lower ligature risk USB charging cables. These would be used by mental health hospitals to allow (risk assessed) patient to charge their devices without introducing ligature risk.
To go along with this:
Bulk USB charger. Imagine a 20 port USB hub, but this has no USB connectivity. It only has USB power. It would be kept in a secure place in a mental health ward and would allow them to charge patient's devices. This would mean that patients get electronic devices but without having access to cords (ligature risk) or mains plugs (self harm risk).
(Take a UK 3 pin plug. Place it on floor with prongs up. Jump off bed onto plug with weight on one foot. That's an unpleasant injury. Removing that risk is useful).
Advantages:
You don't need to PAT test each charger coming into the hospital. You reduce (slightly) fire risk from bad quality chargers.
You reduce ligature and self harm risk.
You allow patients access to electronic devices which has some "safeguarding of liberties" benefits.
Disadvantages: selling to the NHS is possibly hell, and selling electrical equipment to the NHS is possibly even harder.
You're creating a vigh value stash of easy to steal equipment. MH hospitals already have lots of IT and stealable medication so they should be able to keep it safe but maybe a ventilated safe would be part of the package.
This is definitely not a short-term solution, and it might not be practical even in mid-term, but wireless charging sounds like a perfect solution for this kind of environments.
The hospital rooms could have special "charging" spots on the floor/build into the furniture or just a hole in the wall. The patients would charge their devices simply by placing them on the charging spot/shelf. Now there are no potentially dangerous cables or plugs, and all charging can be done without devices leaving the patients' reach, reducing the risk of theft at the same time.
There's already an international standard for wireless charging. The only problem is that it works only with a couple of the current phones, and it's not very likely to appear in low-cost low-end devices that the patients of the mental hospitals most likely to use. But if it ever gets a wider adoption, this would solve a lot of problems...
Wouldn't it will be simpler to have replaceable faceplate with different connectors (a cradle) in each room? Basically, idea is similar to having power buttons/plug/ethernet connector on the wall. Instead you have horizontally mounted faceplate in a cabinet, bed headrest, or any horizontal surface with appropriate connector where device can sit and be charged. There are not too many USB charging devices that will be used in a mental hospital by patients. And depending on the type of device swap out the faceplate with appropriate one.
The best way to avoid ligature and self harm risk is to not have any cable or sharp objects around. Also, this solution will avoid the privacy risk when patient device is taken away for charging by staff members.
Re: reducing ligature risk. Would having a rigid cable (i.e. hard/unbendable metal shell) that's short be a reasonable solution? Similar to the indiegogo project posted in a sister comment, but could be slightly longer and cheaper to manufacture.
To go along with this:
Bulk USB charger. Imagine a 20 port USB hub, but this has no USB connectivity. It only has USB power. It would be kept in a secure place in a mental health ward and would allow them to charge patient's devices. This would mean that patients get electronic devices but without having access to cords (ligature risk) or mains plugs (self harm risk).
(Take a UK 3 pin plug. Place it on floor with prongs up. Jump off bed onto plug with weight on one foot. That's an unpleasant injury. Removing that risk is useful).
Advantages:
You don't need to PAT test each charger coming into the hospital. You reduce (slightly) fire risk from bad quality chargers.
You reduce ligature and self harm risk.
You allow patients access to electronic devices which has some "safeguarding of liberties" benefits.
Disadvantages: selling to the NHS is possibly hell, and selling electrical equipment to the NHS is possibly even harder.
You're creating a vigh value stash of easy to steal equipment. MH hospitals already have lots of IT and stealable medication so they should be able to keep it safe but maybe a ventilated safe would be part of the package.