Legal News

New figures from Agenda – the alliance for women and girls at risk – show that vulnerable women and girls are being repeatedly restrained in the facedown position in mental health units.

Mental health charity Mind called the figures “alarming and unacceptable.”

The research from Agenda found that girls admitted to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in England were more likely to be restrained facedown than boys – and adult women patients were more likely than men to be repeatedly restrained facedown with 8.1% of female patients reporting being held in the facedown restraint position, compared to 5.7% of male patients.

The findings also show that other forms of physical restraint are widespread – with one in five women and girls having been restrained. In some trusts, this figure was as high as three-quarters, despite the fact that more than half of women who have mental health problems have experienced abuse.

Agenda is calling for an end to the use of facedown restraint, which can also be physically dangerous – and for other forms of restraint to only ever to be a last resort. The alliance instead wants the needs to women and girls – including their history of trauma – to be seriously taken into account when assessing how they should be treated in mental health services.

Girls were restrained face-down nearly 2,300 times, compared with fewer than 300 incidents of boys being restrained in this way. Girls were more likely to be restrained facedown repeatedly – with some trusts reporting an average of more than a dozen facedown restraints per female patient.

In adult services, more than 6% of women (nearly 2,000) were restrained facedown more than 4,000 times.

The figures were obtained under a Freedom of Information request for the year 2014-2015. The figures also expose the huge regional variations in the use of facedown restraint, with some trusts using it very little or not at all – while other trusts use both physical and facedown restraint on a regular basis.

Director of Agenda, Katharine Sacks-Jones, said:

“It is alarming and unacceptable that women and girls are regularly and repeatedly restrained in mental health settings – not only is being restrained frightening and humiliating, it also risks re-traumatising those with a history of abuse.

“Mental health units are meant to be caring, therapeutic environments for women and girls feeling at their most vulnerable – not places where physical force is routine.

“Restraint should only ever be a last resort – and facedown restraint is an out-dated practice which should not be used at all. Instead women’s and girls’ needs, including their history of trauma, should be taken into account in mental health services.”

Mental health charity Mind first exposed the widespread use of facedown restraint in their report Mental Health Crisis Care: Physical restraint in crisis in 2013.

Chief Executive of Mind, Paul Farmer, said:

“Agenda’s research shows that some trusts have a shameful over-reliance on physical restraint and use facedown physical restraint too readily in their response to managing a crisis situation.

“We know that healthcare staff do a challenging job and sometimes need to make difficult decisions very quickly – but physical restraint should only be used as the last resort, when there’s no other way of stopping someone from doing themselves or others immediate harm. There is never an excuse for facedown restraint.”

Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is the UK’s largest provider of Legal Aid mental health services and can advise mental health patients on a wide range of issues – including access to NHS mental health services and detention under the Mental Health Act.

Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors regularly visit NHS hospitals to advise on mental health law – and are available across England and Wales at short notice for hospital and police station appointments.

In some cases, Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors may be able to advise the nearest relative or carer of a mental health patient on a range of issues, including initiating treatment reviews where appropriate.

For expert legal advice on mental health law, call the Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors Helpline on 020 3114 1124.