Prescribing antipsychotic medication for adults with intellectual disability: shared responsibilities between mental health services and primary care
Paton, Carol Roy, Ashok Purandare, Kiran Rendora, Olivia Barnes, Thomas R. E.
Paton, Carol
Roy, Ashok
Purandare, Kiran
Rendora, Olivia
Barnes, Thomas R. E.
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Affiliation
Imperial College London; Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK; Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust; Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust;
Other Contributors
Publication date
2021-07-26
Subject
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Aims and method
We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a Prescribing Observatory for Mental Health audit to assess the quality of requests from intellectual disability services to primary care for repeat prescriptions of antipsychotic medication.
Results
Forty-six National Health Service Trusts submitted treatment data on 977 adults with intellectual disability, receiving antipsychotic medication for more than a year, for whom prescribing responsibility had been transferred to primary care. Therapeutic effects had been monitored in the past 6 months in 80% of cases with a documented communication indicating which service was responsible for this and 72% of those with no such communication. The respective proportions were 69% and 42% for side-effect monitoring, and 79% and 30% for considering reducing/stopping antipsychotic medication.
Clinical implications
Where continuing antipsychotic medication is prescribed in primary care for people with intellectual disability, lack of guidance from secondary care regarding responsibilities for monitoring its effectiveness may be associated with inadequate review.
Citation
Paton C, Roy A, Purandare K, Rendora O, Barnes TRE. Prescribing antipsychotic medication for adults with intellectual disability: shared responsibilities between mental health services and primary care. BJPsych Bulletin. 2022;46(6):311-315. doi:10.1192/bjb.2021.72
Type
Article