NHS England has released an important new resource, Identifying restrictive practice, designed to help mental-health inpatient services better understand, recognise, and ultimately reduce the use of restrictive practices. The guidance broadens the conversation beyond obvious interventions like restraint or seclusion, encouraging staff to consider the many subtle ways a person’s freedom, autonomy or dignity can be limited in care settings.
The publication outlines 8 forms of restrictive practice, from cultural and psychological restraint to surveillance, blanket rules, environmental limitations, and the more familiar physical, mechanical and chemical restraints. By naming and defining these categories, NHS England aims to help staff see restriction not just as a last-resort intervention but as something that can appear in everyday routines, assumptions or ward culture.
The 8 forms of restrictive practice outlined in the resource are:
Cultural restraint: Limiting someone’s cultural or religious expression, such as access to appropriate food, clothing, or space for worship.
Surveillance: Using observation, cameras or monitoring in ways that reduce privacy or autonomy.
Blanket restrictions: Rules applied to everyone regardless of individual risk, like fixed bedtimes or limits on personal items.
Mechanical restraint: Devices or equipment used to restrict movement.
Physical restraint: Direct physical force used to prevent or control movement.
Chemical restraint: Medication used primarily to control behaviour rather than to treat a medical condition.
Psychological restraint: Coercion, threats, manipulation or withholding information to influence behaviour.
Environmental restraint: Controlling movement through the environment itself, such as locked doors, seclusion or restricted spaces.
Find out more about the NHS England resource here
Related event:
Reducing & improving the use of Restrictive Interventions & Practice
Virtual, Online | Friday 30th January 2026
This virtual conference will focus on reducing restrictive interventions in line with national guidance to improve care and support. The conference will also delegates on practical steps to reduce restrictive practice, implement the 2025 CQC recommendations, and bring you up to date on legal developments including the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act.
