POTENTIALLY deadly face-down restraints were used dozens of times on mental health and learning disability patients across Dorset last year, figures reveal.

Government reforms aiming to protect mental health patients from unsafe restraint recently came into force following the death of 23-year-old Olaseni Lewis after he was restrained by police officers in London.

Mental health charity Mind welcomed the new reforms, known as "Seni’s Law", and said the figures show how pervasive the use of force is across England.

NHS Digital figures show restrictive interventions were used roughly 805 times on around 120 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole patients with learning disabilities, autism or in secondary mental health services in 2020-21.

Of these, 20 instances saw patients put in the prone position, where they are physically pinned face-down against the floor or another surface – a practice which is said to carry a serious risk of death.

In the Dorset Council region, restrictive interventions were used roughly 430 times on around 85 Dorset patients with learning disabilities, autism or in secondary mental health services in 2020-21.

Of these, 10 instances saw patients put in the prone position.

Restrictive interventions include forms of physical, mechanical and chemical restraint, as well as seclusion and segregation.

New guidance was introduced in early December in memory of Mr Lewis, who died in September 2010 days after he fell unconscious while being restrained by 11 police officers at a London hospital.

The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 aims to ensure the use of force against patients in mental health units is better governed and requires police to wear body cameras while carrying out restraint, unless there are legitimate operational reasons for not doing so.

Rachel Small, Dorset HealthCare’s deputy service director said: “We welcome the measures set out in the guidance and will continue to comply with our obligations under the act.

“Our patients are treated with dignity and respect at all times. The use of physical intervention is always a last resort, and only in circumstances when someone is at risk of causing harm to themselves or to others. All our staff are trained in the use of de-escalation skills and approaches to ensure they use alternatives to restraint wherever possible and that – if restraint is needed – it is done safely.

“Dorset HealthCare has a long-standing Use of Force Review Group in place, which includes clinicians and people with lived experience of using mental health services, to support the robust review of our practice in this area.

“We continuously monitor all episodes of restraint and are fully committed to providing safe, high quality care to all our patients. We are recognised as an outstanding organisation by the Care Quality Commission, and will continue to proactively work to keep restrictive interventions to a minimum.”