Urgent action pledged on over-medication of people with learning disabilities
NHS England are also considering issuing a patient safety alert to ensure that frontline clinicians and other health professionals are aware of the concerns, and have published information on their website for concerned patients and family members.
Dominic Slowie, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Learning Disabilities, said: “This is a historic problem, but one that nobody knew the true scale of; that’s why we worked with patients, carers and professionals to get to the bottom of the issues once and for all.
“These medicines can be helpful when used appropriately and kept under review, but the prevalence and the lack of review or challenge that these reports have highlighted is completely unacceptable, and we are determined to take action to protect this group of patients from over-medication.”
While no specific research has been undertaken on the physical health implications of long-term use of such drugs on people with learning disabilities, past studies looking at patients with schizophrenia and dementia highlighted significantly increased risk of movement disorders, anticholinergic effects, stroke and death.
Individuals and their loved ones who are concerned with a current prescription are encouraged not to stop taking medication immediately, but to consult their doctor or supervising clinician as soon as possible.
Gyles Glover, Consultant in public health and Co-Director of the Learning Disabilities team in Public Health
“Services are overstretched and care is demanding, so we understand how the use of these drugs can be considered normal or necessary. However the report, which is the first of its kind, suggests that psychiatric drugs are used more widely than is appropriate and this comes with risk. It is crucial that we build our evidence of what drugs are being used to manage behaviour and how often to support and guide a change in practice.”
Zoe Lord, Improvement Manager at NHS Improving Quality, said: “We have highlighted a significant need to improve the use of medicines for people with learning disabilities. Across the country, there is a great deal of variation in practice, and this does not provide the necessary high-quality, optimised, care for everyone. We have tested new ways of working with our partnership sites, and propose six recommendations to improve care for service users and their families.”
Information for patients and their families and carers who believe they may be affected is now available (also in easy read).
In summary, the advice to patients is as follows:
ReportsA report of the primary care subscribing study has been published by Public Health
NHS Improving Quality has published a full report on the pilot improvement project which examined medicines practices and related matters in six sites across