Study on the use of Antipsychotic Medication in an Intellectual Disability (ID) community caseload

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) are prescribed antipsychotic medications for different reasons; sometimes this is for a mental illness such as psychotic or affective symptoms, however antipsychotics are also used to improve behaviours that challenge, which are common in people with intellectual disabilities (ID) or autism or both. Antipsychotic medications can have many unwanted side effects and these should be monitored for. Guidelines also indicate that reductions in medication should be considered at psychiatry reviews and alternative interventions should be trialled.

Using national recommendations on antipsychotic prescribing and monitoring and also on reducing antipsychotics in people with intellectual disabilities (ID), audit standards were determined.

The Bedford caseload included 192 service users; of these 2 were new referrals and had yet to be seen so were not included. 70 of the remaining 190 were not on an antipsychotic medication. 120 patients were on an antipsychotic medication. Medical records of 60 of these were audited against the identified standards. The records over the previous year were observed to see either how an antipsychotic was started or an existing antipsychotic was monitored compared to the standards.