Restraint of psychiatric patients in wards triples

Dangerous restraint methods, including chemical sedation, have tripled in psychiatric wards in parts of Scotland despite guidance saying they should be a “last resort”.

Rapid tranquillisation, where a patient is either given oral medication or injected with a sedative, has risen dramatically since 2016 in the four health boards that recorded its use.

Face-down restraint, where patients are pinned to the floor, is considered the most dangerous type of intervention because it can result in compression of the chest and airways and put the person being restrained at risk.

Last year the practice was used more than 2,000 times in Scottish psychiatric wards.

And in Fife, Dumfries and Galloway and Tayside, it has reportedly more than doubled since 2016.