Walsingham Support has officially signed up to the STOMP (Stopping the over-medication of people with a learning disability, autism or both) initiative, which aims to stop the over-use of psychotropic medication to manage people’s behaviour. 

The aims of STOMP compliment those of Walsingham Support in providing support that delivers greater independence and happiness for people with learning disabilities, autism, brain injuries and complex needs.

The over-medication of prescribed psychotropic medication without appropriate clinical justification is believed to affect between 30,000 and 35,000 people every day in England. Psychotropic medication results in alterations to perception, mood or consciousness and long-term use puts people at unnecessary risk of a wide range of side effects, including weight gain, organ failure and premature death, so an issue that clearly needs careful monitoring.

STOMP promotes measures such as alternatives to medication, increasing staff knowledge on psychotropic medication and encouraging them to raise concerns that a person we support is over medicated, all of which will be re-examined.

Our annual Involvement Conference, where the people we support are given a stage to express their views on important topics and how their support is delivered, showed that the people we support are clearly in favour of us signing up to STOMP.

Deputy Chief Executive Sarah Miller said:

“As an organisation we are committed to improving the quality of lives of the people we support, and signing up to STOMP mirrors and reaffirms our continuing efforts in this direction. Furthermore, the people we support clearly indicated their support for the STOMP initiative at our annual Involvement Conference.”

A team has been assembled to help spearhead the changes and plan the way forward. Walsingham Support aims to have all of the positive changes in place to help the people we support by April 2019,