In the early 1980s, the use of control and restraint as a means of managing violence and aggression in the mental health field was brought into special hospitals following an investigation into the death. of a patient at Broadmoor Hospital (Ritchie 1985). Control and restraint was initially developed by the Prison Service as a means of dealing with episodes of violence, and has since carried over into the health service with adaptations made to meet the needs of forensic mental health services and called General Services C and R. However, after initially being regulated by the Prison Service, this eventually opened the doors in the late 1980s for different variations of the original control and restraint to be taught. In mental health settings this is now part of mandatory training for all frontline NHS staff. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The use of restraint in mental health hospital environments continues to generate both interest and concern. The use of restraint should be kept to a minimum and applied as safely as possible. Paterson et al (1992) comment that the NHS fails to ensure consistency in physical interventions. Current directions and the results of recent surveys such as the Blofeld survey (2004) ensure that this topic remains in the spotlight. NICE (2005) defines physical intervention as a practical, skilled intervention used to prevent individuals from harming themselves or others. The term qualified implies that after training, staff are competent and safe to perform the restraint maneuvers taught, although as there is no formal assessment process, the term qualified must be used very loosely . Current training continues to be primarily based on legacy controls and restraints and not patient safety. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE 2015) estimates that more than 700 trainers are now in circulation teaching their own version of the historically sanctioned control and restraint training curriculum. The Ministry of Health (2005) has recommended that a national violence reduction training system be implemented as a matter of urgency, although this has not yet surfaced, allowing trainers to continue regardless. Even with the strictest prevention plans in place, it is not possible to prevent all episodes of violence and, as NICE (2005) explains, it is not always possible to predict violence. Staff must therefore be trained to manage aggressive and violent behavior when all other primary and secondary measures have failed. Wright (1999) agrees with this conclusion that it must be recognized that training in physical intervention is necessary in the absence of any alternative. The reasons why restraint is used vary between staff and patients. Patients view restraint as punishment and often experience pain during restraint and feel that it is not a last resort. While staff reported that restraint was always used when all other options had failed. Physical intervention can rekindle previous traumatic experiences for patients (Bonner et al 2002) and create anger among staff. If staff fail to recognize and manage their feelings, there are..