"Unfair to live with restraints which we would not face in real life"

Thank you for your feedback on ‘night time confinement’. At the recent Trust board meeting held at Wathwood Hospital there was discussion looking at the evaluation of night time confinement at Rampton High Secure hospital.

Overall, the evaluation was very positive and demonstrated that most patients at the hospital had found night time confinement helpful.

At the end of the meeting Dr Mike Harris, the Executive Director for the service asked that a paper regarding the possibility of night time confinement at Arnold Lodge medium secure unit be considered at the next board meeting in March subject to the paper being approved by the executive team of the Trust.

It was agreed that the consultation paper on the potential for night time confinement programme at Arnold Lodge would be presented at the next Trust board meeting in March.

The proposal is one of many possibilities being examined to look at efficiencies within Arnold Lodge and would, if agreed have a projected implementation date of 2016. The paper actually suggests a very wide consultation with all stakeholders but most importantly the patients and staff at Arnold Lodge and the various regulating bodies.

If it does go ahead after the consultation it would initially be a pilot on 2 wards and a detailed evaluation on the benefits and difficulties before going any further.

Currently there are no plans to roll this out any further at Wathwood

I hope this offers some reassurance to the concerns that you have raised around and can we thank you again for raising the issue on the Patient Opinion Web Site

Steve Ball General Manager Wathwood Hospital

Hazel Hayward General Manager Arnold Lodge