New data suggest general practitioner (GP) prescribing of psychotropic drugs to people with learning disabilities and autism changed following the introduction of the NHS England STOMP initiative, which aimed to curb over-prescribing in this area.
Public Health England (PHE) has published a new report - Psychotropic drugs and people with learning disabilities or autism - which examines rates of prescribing of hypnotics, anxiolytics, antipsychotics, antimanics, antidepressants, central nervous system stimulants and antiepileptic drugs, before and after the introduction of STOMP.
The data presented in the new report show that before the programme was introduced in June 2016, prescribing rates for antidepressants, antipsychotics and antiepileptics for adults with learning disabilities all showed increasing trends. Following the implementation of STOMP, trends for antipsychotics and anxiolytics were decreasing.
For autistic children and young people, the prescribing prevalence of all drug groups showed a rising trend in the pre-STOMP period. The only change in the post-STOMP period was a steeper increase in prescribing hypnotics.
For adults with learning disabilities, the rates of prescribing antipsychotics to individuals without a recorded diagnosis of psychosis showed an increasing trend in the pre-STOMP, as did rates for antidepressants for individuals without recorded diagnoses of depressive disorders. In the post-STOMP period, the trend for prescribing antidepressants to people without recorded depression levelled.
The rate of prescribing antipsychotics to individuals with recorded diagnoses of psychosis showed a rising trend in the pre-STOMP period. This changed to a falling trend in the post-STOMP period. Prescribing of antidepressants to individuals with recorded depressive disorders showed a rising trend.
In the report, PHE says rates of prescribing “have started to steer in the right direction, at least for adults with learning disabilities”. However, the report also suggests that GPs may need more support to undertake a psychotropic drug review and to embark on a drug reduction programme.
