Dementia patients in NHS hospitals face routine restraint and sedation, with many prevented from leaving their beds for extended periods according to a new national report.

A leaked 18-month national review funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, involving over 1,000 interviews with 168 patients and doctors across nine wards in six NHS hospital trusts, reveals dementia patients are routinely restrained with raised bedside bars, physically restrained, sedated with antipsychotic drugs, and prevented from leaving their beds for weeks in a 'culture of containment' that treats them like prisoners.