STOMP guidance
What is STOMP?
STOMP stands for stopping over medication of people with a learning disability, autism or both with psychotropic medicines. It is a national project involving many different organisations which are helping to stop the over use of these medicines. STOMP is about helping people to stay well and have a good quality of life.
We all need to make it a priority to reduce and stop the use of inappropriate drugs, to reduce adverse side effects and potential drug interactions. This is vital to our patients’ safety and their quality of care.
The goal is to improve the quality of life of people with a learning disability by reducing the potential harm of inappropriate psychotropic drugs that may be used wholly inappropriately, as a “chemical restraint” to control challenging behaviour, in place of other more appropriate treatment options. It is time for action.
We have signed up to the NHS England STOMP pledge with the aim to lead medication reviews of people with a learning disability, with a view to implementing a planned supervised dose reduction and stopping of inappropriate psychotropic drugs.
Guidance
- As part of the process to explain that clinics are moving away from being medication focused to adopting a more holistic approach we have also created a leaflet to help people understand why medication may not be prescribed when accessing our services and to give ideas on what else could help instead: No Medication Leaflet.pdf [pdf] 190KB
- Please find further guidance from the NHS England website and from their leaflet: STOMPLD Guidance.pdf [pdf] 658KB
- A catalogue of material to support CCGs, GP practices and others to undertake initiatives to support STOMP.pdf [pdf] 364KB
- STOMP and STAMP family leaflet.pdf [pdf] 687KB
Case examples
A number of case examples are available on Care transformed.
Videos
- Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust have produced a series of 6 videos about STOMP. These include videos for GPs, psychiatrists, carers, pharmacists and the learning disabilities team
- A Positive Behavioural Support (PBS) awareness video - This video aims to give healthcare staff an awareness of what can cause challenging behaviour in people with learning disabilities and/or autism and what can be done to support people and families before medication or admission become options
Alternatives to psychotropic drugs
The British Psychological Society have produced a document called ‘what can I do about Challenging Behaviour'.
From the British Psychological Society Jan 18 Committee and Working Group Position Statement on Positive Behavioural Support and Psychological Therapies and People who have Intellectual Disabilities.
Advice for people with a learning disability and their carers
- An easy read document providing advice to patients, carers and others is available on the NHS England website
- The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) has a variety of support tools on their website aimed at social care and support material devised by a large provider of social care -CMG (Care Management Group). These include a document called ‘Preparing to visit a doctor to talk about psychotropic medication’. This resource is a guide for a support worker who is accompanying a person with a learning disability, autism or both to a GP consultation appointment to talk about psychotropic medication. It has been produced as part of the STOMP healthcare campaign
- The Challenging Behaviour Foundation have produced a ‘Medication Pathway’. The pathway designed as a resource for family carers is comprised of a number of sections – Introduction, Medication facts and National Guidance, Medication has been suggested, challenging the decision to prescribe medication, when medication is being started, ongoing use of medication: monitoring and reviewing and Getting it right.