TRIP

QOF could cut antipsychotic use for dementia patients

Healthcare Republic News, 2012

Study suggests scoring system could limit inappropriate use of antipsychotics for dementia patients.
Antipsychotic prescribing for dementia should be reviewed as part of the QOF to slash inappropriate use of the drugs, according to UK researchers.
A quality-of-care score developed by the researchers could be added to the QOF dementia domain to boost standards, they said.
The study found 26% of patients with dementia were prescribed antipsychotics despite high rates of vascular disease.
It comes after the DH conceded in November last year that it had missed its target to cut antipsychotic prescribing by two-thirds within a year.
A University of Manchester team used data from existing QOF dementia indicators to assess GPs' annual reviews for dementia patients.
They assessed whether GPs had completed all four components of the review, including checking mental health, medication, social care and discussion with carers.
Eight in 10 patients had received an annual review, and more than six in 10 had a discussion with carers.
Patients were more than twice as likely to have had a review at a multihanded practice than a singlehanded one, they found.
Researchers then scored practices by dividing the number of relevant clinical reviews provided by the number for which patients were eligible.
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