Over 3,000 cases of physical restraint

Physical restraint as well as seclusion are still often used to contain out-of-control patients in the country’s mental health facilities, a report shows.

Over 3,000 incidents of physical restraint and almost 1,700 episodes of seclusion were reported to the Mental Health Commission (MHC) in 2011, a year which saw some 18,992 admissions to psychiatric wards and units.

Overall, the use of such restrictive interventions continues to decline, a trend welcomed by the MHC which has been monitoring the situation since 2008.