Alarm over anti-psychotic prescriptions for people with learning disabilites

By The Press Association14th July 2015News EnglandLearning Disabilities, News England, Prescriptions, Vulnerable Adults

NHS England has said it will take urgent action after finding a “high level of inappropriate use of psychotropic drugs in people with learning disabilities”.

A report estimated that up to 35,000 adults with a learning disability are being prescribed an anti-psychotic, an anti-depressant or both without appropriate clinical justification.

In a letter to professionals and patients, NHS England officials have urged the review of prescriptions, and promised to spearhead a “call to action” to tackle the issue.

They have also called an “urgent action summit” to bring together carers and family representatives, professionals, and other key interested parties “to agree the steps that need to be taken to reduce the inappropriate use of these medicines and improve this aspect of care in people with learning disabilities who are some of the most vulnerable people in our society”.

A review found that 58% of adults receiving anti-psychotics and 32% of those receiving anti-depressants had no relevant diagnosis recorded.

It also discovered that 22.5% of prescriptions for anti-psychotics included more than one drug in this class – and 5.5% were for doses exceeding the recommended maximum.

Dan Scorer, head of policy at Mencap, said: “The research findings issued today by the NHS shine a light on the shocking scale of the inappropriate use of medication.

“It is simply outrageous that up to 35,000 adults with a learning disability are being prescribed an anti-psychotic, an anti-depressant or both without appropriate clinical justification.”

In a joint statement with Viv Cooper, chief executive at the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, he added: “This confirms what we have heard from families time and time again about their loved ones being given high levels of anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication, often for years.

“In many cases families report serious side effects and no evidence that the medication is helping the individual.

“Fundamental changes must now be delivered, addressing a widespread culture of ‘chemical restraint’, and replacing it with individualised behaviour support.”

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.”