As part of its programme “Untying older people and Alzheimer’s patient” (“Desatar al Anciano y al Enfermo de Alzheimer”), the Spanish Confederation of Organisations for older people (CEOMA) has awarded an accreditation to Hermanas Hospitalarias de Palencia, which becomes the first restraint-free care centre in Castile and León. The care centre has consolidated its system of caring for older people with a focus on quality and dignity. As a result, there have been no constraints for five years.
The use of restraint practices is complex. Stopping it requires a cultural change and working on diverse aspects: legal, social, technical and professional.
Developed 20 years ago (in 2003), CEOMA’s programme aims at eradicating the use of restraints in the context of caring for dependent elderly people, namely by:
- defining the problem and researching it;
- training professionals;
- giving technical support and advice to organisations.
A “center free of restraints” is a center in which no physical restraint is used, understood as physical restraint: limitation of a person’s freedom of movement, or physical activity, or normal access to any part of its body, with any external physical method applied on or adjacent to it, from which it cannot easily be released.
For further information on this programme, you can contact belensanchez@ceoma.org
