NAPPI uk says rise in restraint is 'absolutely unacceptable'

A BBC report has highlighted a steep rise in the use of restraints on adults with learning disabilities in hospital units in England.

Data reveals a 50pc rise in the number of incidents from 2016 to 2017 from 15,000 times to 22,000.

It was tagged "shameful" by MP Norman Lamb, a former social care minister.

And NAPPI uk operations director Scott Edwards has welcomed new national training standards due to be signed off soon by the Restraint Reduction Network.

He added: "For many years there has been a growing call for accredited training in the area of physical intervention to become mandatory wherever restrictive practices are required".

"From the outside perhaps the failures reported here are 'absolutely shocking' as the title used suggests. However, as our work within services across the UK provides a very different, entirely non-abusive solution to managing behaviours of concern I would suggest the reported outcomes are 'absolutely disgusting', 'absolutely devastating' and in 2018 frankly 'absolutely unacceptable'."

The information was obtained by BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme. It also revealed that instances of face-down or prone restraint - which should no longer by used according to government guidelines - also increased from more than 2200 to 3100.

Liberal Democrat Mr Lamb, who introduced guidelines to reduce the use of force in hospitals in 2014, told the BBC the use of face-down restraint was "absolutely shocking" and "extraordinarily demeaning".

"The bottom line is that I had wanted to see and expected to see a substantial decline in the use of restraint and that hasn't happened."

"I think that's really shameful when we know that it's possible in very many cases to avoid the use of restraint at all through a more sophisticated approach to people in inpatient settings."

A Department of Health and Social Care official said: "We are clear that any kind of restraint should only be used as a last resort and we are working to reduce restrictive interventions and improve patient safety through improved monitoring and training."

NAPPI - which stands for Non-Abusive Psychological and Physical Intervention - specialises in Managing Challenging Behaviour with an emphasis of Positive Behaviour Support. Its training looks at assessment, preparation, prevention and management when carers deal with confused, unpredictable, and aggressive service users, who use behaviour as a form of communication.

Sessions stress how attitude and generating co-operation play an important part in the delivery of quality care - and how identifying the unmet need of the individual and providing more appropriate responses prevents the need for more restrictive practices.

Find out more about NAPPI courses here.

Read the BBC story in full here.