06.05.15
People with dementia restrained by security guards at NHS hospitals
Security guards are being used to restrain patients who have dementia in some NHS hospitals, trusts have confirmed.
A total of 42 trusts admitted they use security staff to deal with patients, and at least 17 hospital trusts admit they routinely use security staff to deal with patients who have dementia if they become distressed on wards.
Others used security staff to restrain patients who were under the influence of alcohol and drugs, or who had mental health or medical problems influencing their behaviour.
Thirteen trusts that admitted using security guards to cope with patients said they did not routinely record why they had been called.
The Daily Mail sent FOI requests to all 160 NHS hospital trusts in England asking how many times security guards were called in to restrain patients. Of the 76 trusts who responded, only four said they banned security from restraining patients under any circumstances.
In 2012-13 and 2013-14, guards at the 42 trusts responded to calls for help with 5,722 patients, including 320 recorded as having dementia, while 20 people had been injured.
Hilda Hayo, chief executive of the charity Dementia UK, warned that violence could erupt if staff failed to attend to the needs of dementia patients who cannot express themselves.
She told the Mail: “We do find occasions where security are called in to intervene in situations involving patients with dementia; often when communication has broken down and ward staff haven’t had adequate training to understand the person’s needs and how they are being expressed.”
An NHS England spokesman said it was working “to identify policies and practices to minimise the use of physical restraint” and to “support NHS staff to develop a better understanding of alternative ways of supporting people with challenging behaviour”.
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