restraining patients physically usually with straps on a bed can occur when hospital staff feel that a patient is out of control presenting a danger to themselves or others or is causing disruption while staff working in hospitals including nurses and psychiatrists may feel that such action is necessary or justified restraint can be very stressful and traumatic for the patient and can result in injury or even death a report on the use of restraint in england found that in alone there were eight deaths linked to the use of restraint and in there were injuries resulting from the use of restraint mind seclusion of patients where patients are kept in a confined space is often used for similar reasons to restraint but again can be highly distressing to patients and can have a lasting impact on their mental wellbeing and their confidence in hospital staff national mental health consumer carer forum