The second National Audit of Schizophrenia has shown that there is still a significant shortfall in the quality of some aspects of care affecting the lives of people living with schizophrenia and also their carers.
Two years ago, the first report from the National Audit of Schizophrenia highlighted areas of concern, particularly the management and coordination of physical healthcare, some aspects of prescribing practice and availability of talking therapies. The latest audit has re- examined these areas and looked in more depth at service users’ perception of their care. Findings included:
• Although most service users were fairly satisfied with their quality of care, carers had some significant areas of dissatisfaction with aspects of the information and support they received.
• Monitoring and intervention for serious physical health problems continues to be below acceptable standards.
• The availability of talking therapies remains inadequate for those who want them.
• Some people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are also being prescribed medication in excess of recommended doses and over half of those whose illness has not responded well to standard medications have had to wait too long to receive clozapine, a medication with greater effect for many such individuals.
The National Audit of Schizophrenia was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit Programme, carried out by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Centre for Quality Improvement (CCQI) in partnership with other organisations.
It assessed the care for people affected by schizophrenia who are living in the community in England and Wales and examined how well guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) were being followed.
Key recommendations following the report findings include the need for NICE to produce new guidelines for people with schizophrenia in relation to physical health, which makes clear that mental health professionals should have responsibility for physical health checks for the first year of treatment. Responsibility should then pass to the person’s GP.
NHS culture needs to be improved to better understand the interdependencies between physical and mental health. There also needs to be an improvement in antipsychotic medication prescribing and access to psychological therapies.
Other recommendations include the need for the provision of better information to carers to support them in this role and an improvement in information systems so that information can be easily shared between professionals.
