Third of patients have no information on side effects of psychiatric medication

August 8, 2007
by staff reporter

One third of mental health service users living in the community are receiving no information on the side effects of their medication.

A national review of of adult specialist community mental health services in England also reported that almost a third of service users do not know who their care co-ordinator is.

However, the reviewers said since the introduction of the government's national service framework for mental health in 1999 there has been a “steady improvement” in the range and quality of adult community mental health services.

The review, carried out by the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection, assessed 174 local implementation teams around England. The teams are responsible for making sure that the service framework is administered.

In a separate development, the mental health charity Rethink has said a person diagnosed with mental illness has 10 times less spent on their care and treatment than a patient with cancer.

The charity says the low funding of mental health means people are unable to access treatment, such as psychological therapies.

Last month, psychminded.co.uk reported that people in Derbyshire are having to wait up to three-and-a-half years for psychological therapy. The government has, however, launched 13 new psychological therapy centres for people with depression and anxiety around England in the last year.

Rethink has submitted a review of mental health funding by the London School of Economics to the government.

Healthcare Commission

Read for yourself:
Rethink's report on mental health funding (word doc)

See also:
July 26: People wait up to three-and-a-half years for psychological therapy - figures from Derbyshire Mental Health Trust come at time when government is promising to increase access to psychological therapies

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People refuse drugs for good reasons

Comment from: Louise Pembroke, mental health activist, London
Date: August 12, 2007

So people will get no information [on medication] yet community treatment orders, which would will force people to take drugs in the community, are viewed as acceptable.

People refuse drugs for good reasons - weight gain, diabetes, cardiac problems, impaired cognitive functioning, neurological deficits.

A cancer patient being offered chemotherapy would be told about all of the side effects, such as hair loss and nausea and those patients can refuse it, even if it means dying as a result.

Yet mental health service users are expected to take highly toxic drugs with horrible effects, little or biased information and to do so unquestioningly.

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What about informed consent?

Comment from: Peter Campbell, mental health activist, Mind Diamond Champion, 2006, freelance trainer and writer in mental health, London
Date: August 27, 2007

If this one third figure is correct, it makes me wonder how many people are actually in a position to give informed consent to their drug treatment? Informed consent has never been closely defined - how much and what quality information do we need to have etc...perhaps that needs to change?

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If you don't get information, sue

Comment from: Fenella Lemonsky, Expert by Experience,
North London Hub, Mental Health Research Network, Imperial College, London
Date: August 28, 2007

Peter. you raise an interesting issue. Informed consent is defined in the Department of Health's Consent Document

Additionally, if in a clinical trial of a licensed drug, the research governance framework says on informed consent that written information is to be explained thoroughly in an easy to understand way i.e. no jargon for those in clinical trials. Isn't it then ironic that you have to be on a clinical trial to get good information on the licensed drugs you are consenting to? I think it is outrageous that service users are given little information. Additionally, they also have little choice or say. Yet, as you Louise point out, if it is chemo it is explained clearly and they can refuse without the threat of sectioning.

Service users are also not told that there is an alternative - talking therapies - to medication. Yet of course this is rationed and scarce.

I get intrusive thoughts and instead of being whacked with an antipsychotic I am encouraged to find ways to manage better without medication using diet, exercise, self soothing strategies etc. Yet I know many who are just given whopping doses of risperidone and similar drugs and have not been encouraged to explore alternatives or even given a minimum dose and helped to manage better.

Some people do need medication to keep stable - however that is no excuse for lack of information and a choice of what is on offer and approaches like art, dance, movement therapy etc and holistic approaches.

Finally, it is the protocol that every PCT has to make sure that every patient gets a leaflet printed by the drug's manufacturers with their medication .The pharmacist must then photocopy the original or get extras from the company. If you don't get a copy - complain. I was informed by our head of public health in Barnet, Dr Zoe Aslanpour, that this is audited on every year. As a patient I can sue the PCT for lack of information.

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Clients 'not bothered'

Name of sender: John Bosco Mayinja, clinical charge nurse, Lambeth Hospital, London
Date: December 5, 2007

I work in an inpatient facility whereby we inform clients about side effects of medications and how they could be ameliorated. On most occassions clients do not want to be bothered.

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