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News 18th July 2004 Letter
in The Sunday Times: Caring, not caging The Czech health minister's order to remove restraining cages from psychiatric facilities (later criticised by the president) is welcome but does not go far enough (Rowling quest to halt child "torture", News, last week). The issue of caged beds is one we have been pursuing in the European parliament during the past year. The campaign is led by the human rights group, MDAC, and I spoke in the Czech senate this spring, urging an end to this practice. It is not only children with behavioural problems who are locked in these beds for hours or days at a time; they are also used to control elderly confused patients and others with severe mental illness. Only four European countries use this system -the Czech republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia (it is a tradition inherited from the former Austro-Hungarian empire). Happily, Hungary has now announced it will cease using the beds. Doctors and politicians in these countries have sometimes said to me that they agree use of the beds is excessive but, without them, they would have to strap patients to their beds. The answer in the 21st century is, of course, not caged beds, nor straps, nor straitjackets; it is nursing and medical staff trained in the techniques of care, calming and, where necessary, restraint. That may cost in terms of staffing and training; but it is a cost a civilised mental health system must bear. John Bowis MEP Times Newspapers Ltd, 2004. Link to page with more details about the campaign against cage beds in Central Europe. |
