North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) and NEL CCG are delighted to announce that their STOMP (Stopping over-medication of people with learning disabilities, autism or both) joint project has been shortlisted for Learning Disabilities Initiative of the Year at this year’s HSJ Patient Safety Awards, recognising their outstanding contribution to healthcare.
Following one of the toughest years in the health and social care sector, NELFT continues to champion patient safety amidst challenges that the health and social care sector is facing.
STOMP is a national project, introduced by NHS England in 2016, involving many different organisations working to reduce and stop the overuse of psychotropic medicines. The local STOMP service covers the boroughs of Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham and Waltham Forest and started in November 2020. The STOMP clinic for these boroughs sits within NELFT and is run by Rizwana Dudhia, Advanced Clinical Pharmacist for Learning Disabilities and is supported by Harpreet Jutle, Project officer in the Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme team at NEL CCG.
NELFT aims to promote the safe use of psychotropic medication for people with learning disabilities and/or autism, ensuring they are prescribed the right amount for the shortest time possible. In turn this should allow for patients to live an improved quality of life and increase their safety by reducing the risk of unpleasant and unnecessary adverse effects of psychotropic medication.
Rachel Penney, Learning Disabilities and Autism Strategic Lead at NEL CCG comments, “STOMP is a key priority for the North East London Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme, and NEL CCG is delighted to have worked with NELFT on delivering this piece of work. It is fantastic to see evidence of how patients’ quality of life has improved as a result of the project, and we are immensely proud of what our colleagues in NELFT have achieved in such a challenging year.”
The full list of finalists for the 2021 HSJ Patient Safety Awards can be found here.
Winners will be selected ahead of the ceremony, which will take place as part of the Patient Safety Congress and Awards in Manchester in September 2021.
