Mr. Gary Kiernan:

As with many of the provisions we are talking about here, including the complaints issue we have just discussed, we promote that there is, in parallel, a revision of the 2006 approved central regulations and creation of new regulations to support the new and approved amendments contained in the general scheme.

The same goes for restrictive practices to strengthen those arrangements. The commission has provisions and powers to make rules for restrictive practices. We welcome the amendments in the general scheme, which strengthen those and which, as Mr. Farrelly highlights, emphasise that these restrictive practices are not therapeutic and do not have a therapeutic effect and that a lot of the international evidence is that they can be harmful so they should be treated with extreme caution and used in the most exceptional circumstances. We have already conducted a body of research to support this process and strengthen the rules on seclusion and mechanical, physical, chemical or pharmacological restraint. We welcome the amendments that create a provision for all categories of restrictive practice.

It is important that there is emphasis on this area. There continues to be a large number of seclusions every year. There are in the region of 1,800 episodes of seclusion and more than 3,000 episodes of physical restraint every year so these practices go on in mental health services that we want to continue to regulate. We will bring out revised rules to govern these practices and make sure they are used in the most exceptional circumstances. We welcome the provisions that are there under section 69. We wrote to the Department last September requesting that further amendments be made with regard to chemical restraint, that this would be further clarified and that equal status would be given to all those category of restraint - chemical, physical, mechanical and seclusion.