Jury condemns excessive use of restraint

I wrote about the opening of this inquest recently. The jury returned a seven page narrative verdict that described the prolonged use of restraint as “excessive” and catalogued other series of failings by the hospital. Kurt Howard died while under a section at Cefn Coed Hospital in Swansea in 2002. His family had to wait 6 years for an inquest.

Deborah Coles from Inquest argues:
“Evidence heard at this inquest is a damning indictment of the treatment of a vulnerable mentally ill young man who died a horrific death while being restrained. The scandal is that six years after Kurt’s death there is still no mandatory training on the use of restraint in psychiatric hospitals as recommended by the Rocky Bennett Inquiry in 2003.  Excessive levels of restraint continue to be used in psychiatric institutions behind closed doors.  The government must enforce national guidelines and implement compulsory training on restraint before further vulnerable patients die.”