Hospitals’ use of restraint on adults with learning disabilities rose by almost 50 per cent between 2016 and 2017.
A BBC File on 4 investigation found that in 2016 hospitals in England used restraint 15,000 times, and a year later it grew to 22,000 times.
Former care minister Norman Lamb has called an increase in the use of restraint “shameful”
Face-down restraints — which guidelines have banned — increased from 2,200 in 2016 to 3,100 in 2017.
Norman Lamb MP is the former care minister who introduced guidelines to reduce restraint in 2014.
‘Absolutely shocking’
He called the use of face-down restraint “absolutely shocking”.
Lamb said it was “shameful” that his guidelines had not produced a “substantial decline”.
Dan Scorer is Mencap’s policy head and Viv Cooper is the Challenging Behaviour Foundation’s chief executive.
‘One of the biggest human rights issues of our time’
In a joint statement they called restraint “one of the biggest domestic human rights issues of our time”.
The government introduced its Transforming Care initiative following the scandal at Winterbourne View hospital near Bristol. A BBC Panorama investigation screened in 2011 captured widespread abuse at the hospital. It resulted in six staff being jailed and five given suspended sentences for abusing disabled patients.
Transforming Care was designed to get more people living in the community instead of hospitals.
But Scorer and Cooper say the latest restraint figures show little has changed.
Government pledge on hospitals likely to fall short
Radio 4 documentary series File on 4 also learned that the government’s pledge to move up to 50 per cent of people out of hospitals by March 2019 is likely to fall short.
Figures show the number of adults in hospitals in England has only reduced from around 2,600 to 2,375 and the number of children in the units has almost doubled.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it remains committed to ensuring people with learning disabilities to live in the community.
Related:
- Lamb distressed at face-down restraint
- Safeguards over care ‘falling over’
- Commissioner to investigate secure units
- Crisis keeps 2,500 in treatment units
Published: 8 October 2018
