NICE Consultation on draft guideline, ‘Aggressive behaviour in people receiving NHS or social care: prevention and management’

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is consulting on its draft guideline, Aggressive behaviour in people receiving NHS or social care: prevention and management, which will update NICE guideline NG10.

NG10 is the current NICE guideline that influences how services prevent and respond to “violence and aggression”, including the use of restrictive practices, across mental health, health and community settings. 

We know this terminology is widely used in policy and practice, but at RRN we prefer language that recognises distress, and the importance of compassionate, rights respecting and trauma-informed support. 

This is an important opportunity for people, families, carers, practitioners, providers and organisations to help shape guidance that could influence how distress is understood and responded to across NHS and social care settings, including the prevention of restrictive practice, safer responses in crisis, post-incident support, and the role of lived experience in improving practice. 

Contribute to the RRN response to the consultation

At the Restraint Reduction Network, we are preparing our own consultation submission and would welcome views from stakeholders who want to feed into our response. We are particularly keen to hear about what would make the guidance safer, more rights-respecting, more trauma-informed, and more equitable in practice. 

If you would like your views to inform the RRN submission, please email [email protected]. 

You can read and respond to the NICE consultation on the NICE project documents page. 

The consultation closes at 5pm on 16 September 2026.