Dementia patients ‘dehumanised’ by hospital restraint techniques – report

Elderly people on hospital wards can feel isolated, researchers found.Hospital staff are sometimes confining patients with dementia to bed through controversial “containment and restraint” techniques, new government-funded research reveals.The findings, paid for by the National Institute for Health Research, reveal that nurses and healthcare assistants are raising the siderails of beds and tucking bedsheets tightly around patients with dementia, reducing their mobility.