A GRANDMOTHER who attempted suicide after her “humiliating” treatment at an Oxford mental health hospital has backed calls to ban the “life-threatening” restraint of patients.

Rosemary Wilson was subjected to a face-down restraint by three nurses at Littlemore Mental Health Centre.

Mental health charity Mind this week called upon the Government to end the face-down restraint of those with mental health problems after figures revealed 13 people had died in England since 2000 after being restrained in that way. Eight of them died in 2011.

The charity’s figures show that only two other English trusts used the technique more than the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust between April 2011 and March 2012.

The Oxford trust used face-down restraint 225 times, compared to the national average of 65.

Grandmother-of-two Mrs Wilson was restrained in the ward garden in 2003 after voluntarily going to the hospital when she was feeling suicidal.

The 66-year-old, from Bodicote, said one nurse sat on each of her arms and another sat on her legs. Her wrist was twisted, her thumbs bent back, and one of the nurses dug her fingers into her ribs.

She said: “It was such a humiliating experience. It was very difficult to recover from.”

The former teacher at Banbury’s Dashwood Road Primary School said she suffered post traumatic stress after the incident and attempted suicide again as a result.

She added: “All they needed to do is talk to me. I don’t think it is justifiable in any way.”

The trust investigated the incident and later apologised to Mrs Wilson.

She said she was now helped by a “very supportive” mental health team.

Mind chief executive Paul Farmer said the Government should ban the restraint method as it was “dangerous” and “extremely frightening”.

He said: “It has no place in modern healthcare and its use must be ended.

"When someone’s life comes crashing down in a crisis they need help, not harm.”

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust spokesman Carrie-Ann Wade Williams said it was working to cut out its use of the face-down restraint method and reduce all restraint techniques.

She also said staff were trained to help avoid having to restrain patients, adding: “Restraint is used as a last resort with patients when other techniques of de-escalation have failed.”

TRUST USAGE

NHS Foundation Trusts ranked by face-down restraint incidents:
 

  • Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 923
  • Southern Health 810
  • Oxford Health 225
  • Kent and Medway 192
  • Pennine Care 175
  • Dorset Healthcare University 125
  • Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber 123
  • Somerset Partnership 121
  • South West Yorkshire Partnership 117
  • Black Country Partnership 106
  • North Staffordshire Combined 102
  • Cornwall Partnership 85
  • Cheshire and Wirral 73