Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has`made of the adequacy of guidance available to NHS staff on the use of restrictive practice within inpatient mental health services.

The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 requires every mental health unit to publish a policy on how it is minimizing the use of force, including restrictive practices. This includes preventative action the unit is taking to minimise use of force, staff training on how and when use of force is appropriate, and how use of force is recorded and reported.

There is ongoing work to reduce restrictive interventions within mental health inpatient units using quality improvement approaches including through the Culture of Care Standards Programme. Resources such as the NHS England’s Identifying restrictive practice guidance and the Use of Force Act statutory guidance have been produced to reduce the use of force and ensure accountability and transparency about the use of force in mental health units.