Shared care pitfalls: high dose antipsychotic monitoring in the community

Background Shared care is an integral part of monitoring patients on high-dose antipsychotics (HDA). These off-label prescription medications used for treatment resistant schizophrenia carry significant risk of harm, including sudden death. The challenges of monitoring HDA prescriptions are complex in the community setting.

Aim Identify pitfalls in community HDA prescribing and monitoring through an audit of a busy London adult psychosis service caseload.

Method Two years on from an initial caseload audit and multidisciplinary team education programme, compliance on HDA monitoring forms was re-audited in greater depth. Correspondence between the community psychiatric team and each patient’s GP was reviewed, looking for evidence of shared care protocols. Results were combined with a literature search.

Results None of monitoring tests were adequately recorded. In 100% of cases windows for repeat ECG and observation monitoring had been missed. In 100% of cases blood tests had been carried out by the GP but this information was not documented appropriately. 0% of case records showed clear documentation of the shared care protocol from psychiatric team to GP.

Conclusion HDA psychotic monitoring policies has been poor when audited at inpatient centres, however, these audits have led to improvements in guideline compliance. In this case, MDT education failed to lead to improvement. The primary–secondary care interface leaves GPs lacking certainty in their roles monitoring HDAs. Patients in the community are not always stable enough to have the insight or motivation to consistently engage with services. New strategies with a focus on shared care have been implemented to drive quality improvement.