We’re calling on all health and social care staff and family carers to respond to our questionnaire and attend our event with the Community of Practice on 23 November!

STOMP (Stopping Over Medication of People with a learning disability, autism or both) and STAMP (Supporting Treatment and Appropriate Medication in Paediatrics) are national projects, launched by NHS England and involving many different organisations, aiming to stop the overuse of psychotropic medicines. 

It is estimated that on an average day in England between 30,000 and 35,000 people with a learning disability, autism or both are taking prescribed psychotropic medication without appropriate clinical justification. 

This is medication which results in alterations to perception, mood or consciousness. Long-term use of these medicines puts people at unnecessary risk of a wide range of side effects including weight gain, organ failure and even premature death.

How can you take part?

We have launched a questionnaire to hear from colleagues across the health and care sector, including family carers, about your experiences of using STOMP and STAMP within your job roles and how awareness and understanding of STOMP and STAMP could be improved. 

Understanding the views of health and care professionals with experience in supporting people is essential to identifying opportunities and building solutions to prevent the over-use and inappropriate use of psychotropic medications.

The questionnaire is open now until Friday 16 December 2022.

We are also hosting an event with the Community of Practice on Wednesday 23 November 2022, 12.30 – 14.00.

This will be an opportunity to hear more about the project, to discuss your experiences of learning about and using STOMP and STAMP, and to share your ideas about opportunities and solutions to improve the use of STOMP and STAMP and reduce reliance on psychotropic medications. 

Sign-up via Eventbrite.

This project is a collaboration between VODG, the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), Learning Disability England (LDE) and Skills for Care and is funded by Health Education England. 

Find out more on our project page here: www.vodg.org.uk/resource/stomp-and-stamp-the-essential-role-of-the-health-and-care-workforce-in-reducing-the-reliance-on-psychotropic-medication.html  

The inaugural Learning Disability Nursing Day occurs on 1st November.

To celebrate an online event is being hosted by the University of South Wales Nursing Society. Details can be found by clicking on this link.

If you’d like to join the conversation, please search for #ChooseLDNursing on social media.

Dear community of practice followers

Yesterday I had the pleasure of chairing the national shared decision-making council for learning disability nursing in which we received a very helpful update from David Harling and Ellie Gordon on the All England Plan for Learning Disability Nursing. They were both keen that we shared these far and wide so feel free to click here to download the PDF version of the update or review the slides below.

Best regards

George Matuska (RNLD, KSSLDCoP steering group member)