The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 264 No 7079 p94-95
January 15, Letters

Learning disabilities

Pharmacist attachment

From Dr I. S. Hall, MRCPsych, and others

SIR,—We welcome the recent briefing paper "Pharmacist support for people with learning disabilities" (PJ, November 20, 1999, p826-31) and would like to advocate the attachment of pharmacists to community teams for people with learning disabilities as a way of achieving some of the suggestions in the paper. In Camden and Islington community health services trust we have found that such an arrangement has enabled very constructive multidisciplinary working on a number of specific projects.

• We have developed patient information leaflets accessible to people with learning disabilities in co-operation with a local voluntary organisation interested in improving access to health care for people with learning disabilities (the Elfrida Society).¹ We are currently undertaking a randomised controlled trial of these leaflets
• We have audited the use of "as required" medicines in our local community homes for people with learning disabilities. We found that there was a lack of understanding among staff about the indications for and appropriate use of "as required" medication. As a result we are currently piloting a pro-forma to help staff produce appropriate guidelines for individual clients in consultation with professionals about the use of "as required" medication
• The pharmacist's links with acute services have enabled the community team to produce guidelines for working with people with learning difficulties when admitted to those services. These aim to promote better understanding of the needs of the person with learning difficulties when faced with the unfamiliar and often frightening environment of an acute hospital

The pharmacist is available to receive referrals around medication issues such as provision of information to individual clients and to staff teams in residential homes and hostels for people with learning disabilities. Training of care staff in group homes around understanding the use of medicines is a regular feature as is medicines information to professional colleagues. Appropriate packaging of medicines for the individual person with learning disabilities is discussed with the pharmacist of his or her choice and this working relationship is monitored and encouraged. Our local pharmacists are very supportive of this work and where necessary, have offered specific arrangements where "taking the medicine" is not a simple matter for the client concerned.
We have found that the direct inclusion of a pharmacist in the multidisciplinary team has enabled us significantly to improve the quality of health care provided to people with learning difficulties, working in partnership with other professions and agencies, including the local community pharmacists.

I. S. Hall
Consultant Psychiatrist
Betsy M. Wilkie
Principal Pharmacist
Frank Earley
Health Support Worker
Emma Winn
Principal Speech and Language Therapist
Camden & Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust Services for People with Learning Disabilities, London NW1

References