Summary
Freedom of information requests made by the Liberal Democrats have revealed that the use of restraint by mental health trusts in England has increased yearly since 2013, despite repeated calls over recent years for restraint to be minimised. It may be that improvements in the recording and reporting on the use of restraint could have contributed to this apparent increase.
Use of face-down restraint has fallen:
“ …the most extreme restraints, where patients are forced to the ground, fell 9% across 33 trusts”.
Reference
Greenwood, G. (2017). Mental health trusts restrain patients ‘every 10 minutes’. London: BBC Health News, November 16th 2017.
Possibly also of interest, NHS Digital’s report provides more general information about adult safeguarding issues and related enquiries during the 2016/17 financial year, with analyses by type, location, source of risk and outcomes.
Reference
Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC), Annual Report, England 2016-17. London: NHS Digital, November 15th 2017.
