This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Face-down restraint remaining in mental health care
Despite the government and the NHS saying it should stop, face-down physical restraint is still being used in mental health wards.
Following a Freedom of Information request by Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb, the total number of recorded restraints rose by 16.6 per cent from 2013-14 to 2015-16.
This, in part, may be due to better reporting of the incident.
Face down restraint can restrict a patient's breathing, but some healthcare trainers say the action can be the only appropriate way of keeping staff and patients safe.
Lamb, former health minister under the coalition government, said: "I find it immensely distressing, to be honest with you, because I know the impact that it has on individuals. We have an obligation to those individuals to do better than this."
Prof Tim Kendall, NHS England's national clinical director for mental health, added: “We are going in the right direction, but there's a lot of other things that we need to do.
"When you go to an inpatient unit, you are commonly being restricted. And that's bound to produce a reaction in people, and it's important for all of us to make sure that doesn't end in restraint."
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