DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sasjm.2026.v12i09.001

Pages: 857-860

Background: People with learning disabilities experience significant health inequalities and may have difficulties communicating symptoms, adverse effects, treatment concerns and medication adherence. The over-prescribing and long-term use of psychotropic medication, particularly antipsychotics, has also been identified as an important area for improvement. This quality improvement project examined whether patients with learning disabilities receiving repeat medication were receiving appropriate medication reviews. Aim: To assess whether patients on the learning disability register who were receiving repeat medication had received an appropriate medication review annually. Methods: All patients on the learning disability register were reviewed. Patients who did not have medication on their repeat template were excluded. For included patients, medication reviews over the preceding five years were assessed for evidence of patient contact and appropriate documentation, including medication compliance, adverse effects, relevant investigations and consideration of whether treatment should be continued or discontinued. A separate analysis was undertaken for patients prescribed antipsychotic medication. Results: Of 316 patients identified on the learning disability register and receiving medication, 22 were excluded, leaving 294 patients for analysis. Medication reviews had been completed for 125 patients (43%), while only 87 patients (30%) had evidence of an appropriate medication review. Eighty-five of 294 patients (29%) were prescribed antipsychotic medication. Of these, 58 patients (68%) had received a specialist antipsychotic medication review, but only 17 of those 58 patients (29%) also had evidence of review by a general practitioner. Conclusions : Appropriate medication reviews were documented in only 30% of the study population. The findings suggest a need for more structured and explicit medication review processes for patients with learning disabilities, particu