<p>The sentiments of those who support the Millfields Charter in seeking to improve service user safety and, in particular, to decrease the risk of further restraint-related deaths in health and social care, are unquestionably laudable. However, the approach chosen in pursuit of such a goal – seeking to ‘ban’ prone restraint – is one with which I, alongside many others, disagree profoundly. This is because as a strategy I believe the proposal is based on misinterpretations of the current research evidence and on an over-simplification of the complex task involved in promoting safer services that is ultimately misleading. As HL Mencken observed: ‘For every problem, there is one solution which is simple, neat and wrong.’</p>