Helping health and care services manage difficult patient behaviour

The Department of Health has launched a two-year programme to end deliberate face-down restraint and radically reduce restrictive interventions.

The programme will support health and care services to develop a culture where restrictive interventions are a last resort, including by providing best practice guidance on positive and proactive care and workforce development for commissioners and providers.

The guidance is aimed at adult health and social care staff, including commissioners of services, executive directors, frontline staff and all those who care for and support people, to develop a culture where restrictive interventions are only ever used as a last resort.

It identifies actions that will improve people’s quality of life which should then reduce the need for restrictive interventions and sets out ways to know who is responsible for making these improvements, including effective governance, transparency and monitoring.

To download the guidance visit www.gov.uk/government/publications/positive-and-proactive-care-reducing-restrictive-interventions.