What is STOMP?
STOMP stands for stopping over medication of people with a learning disability, autism or both with psychotropic medicines. It is a national project involving many different organisations which are helping to stop the over use of these medicines. STOMP is about helping people to stay well and have a good quality of life.
We all need to make it a priority to reduce and stop the use of inappropriate drugs, to reduce adverse side effects and potential drug interactions. This is vital to our patients’ safety and their quality of care.
The goal is to improve the quality of life of people with a learning disability by reducing the potential harm of inappropriate psychotropic drugs that may be used wholly inappropriately, as a “chemical restraint” to control challenging behaviour, in place of other more appropriate treatment options. It is time for action.
The aims of STOMP are to:
- encourage people to have regular check-ups about their medicines
- make sure doctors and other health professionals involve people, families and support staff in decisions about medicines
- inform everyone about non-drug therapies and practical ways of supporting people so they are less likely to need as much medicine, if any.