Health and Care of People with Learning Disabilities, Experimental Statistics 2021 to 2022

The clinical codes used to define the medicines being prescribed can be identified via the Business Rules.

Antipsychotics can help to reduce and control many psychotic symptoms. However, they are not suitable or effective for everyone as side effects can affect people differently.

Each year between 2017-18 and 2021-22, a significantly greater percentage of patients with a learning disability have been prescribed antipsychotics compared to patients without a learning disability.

This ranges from a difference of 14.6 percentage points in 2017-18 to 13.6 percentage points in 2021-22.

The percentage of patients with a learning disability being prescribed antipsychotics has fallen by 1.0 percentage points (15.5% to 14.5%) between 2017-18 and 2021-22. The percentage of patients without a learning disability being prescribed antipsychotics has remained steady over the same period (0.9%).

This indicator was introduced in 2020-21. It  shows a significant difference in the proportion of patients prescribed antipsychotics  between those with a learning disability who have been diagnosed with autism and those who have autism but do not have a learning disability.

In 2021-22, the percentage of patients who have a diagnosis of autism who were prescribed antipsychotics and have a learning disability was 20.4% compared to 3.7% for those without a learning disability, a 16.7  percentage point difference.    

This indicator was introduced in 2020-21. It shows a significant difference in the proportion of patients prescribed antipsychotics without a diagnosis of severe mental illness  between those with a learning disability and those without.

In 2021-22, the percentage of patients who do not have a diagnosis of severe mental illness and who do not require palliative care who were prescribed antipsychotics and have a learning disability was 9.1% compared to 0.5% for those without a learning disability, an 8.6 percentage point difference.

Antidepressants are a type of medicine used to treat clinical depression. They can also be used to treat several other conditions, including long-term (chronic) pain.

This indicator was introduced in 2020-21. It shows a significant difference in the proportion of patients who are treated with antidepressants between patients with a learning disability and those without. In 2021-22, the percentage of patients with a learning disability who were treated with antidepressants was 21.2% compared to 10.7% for those without a learning disability (a difference of 10.5 percentage points).

The percentage of patients with a learning disability without an active depression diagnosis who were prescribed antidepressants has risen by 1.0 percentage points (11.0% to 12.0%) between 2017-18 and 2021-22. The percentage of patients without a learning disability and without an active depression diagnosis who were prescribed antidepressants has remained steady over the same period (between 4.3% and 4.5%).

Benzodiazepines act as a sedative – slowing down the body’s functions – and are used to treat sleeping problems and anxiety.

Each year between 2017-18 and 2021-22, a significantly greater percentage of patients with a learning disability have been prescribed benzodiazepines compared to patients without a learning disability.
The percentage of patients being prescribed benzodiazepines has decreased for both cohorts of patients over the same period (0.5 percentage points for patients with a learning disability and 0.6 percentage points for patients without a learning disability).

In 2021-22, the percentage of patients with a learning disability who were prescribed benzodiazepines was 7.1% compared to 1.8% for those without a learning disability, a 5.3 percentage point difference.

This indicator was introduced in 2020-21. It shows a significant difference in benzodiazepine prescribing rates between patients with a learning disability who have been diagnosed with autism and patients who have autism but do not have a learning disability.

In 2021-22, the percentage of patients prescribed benzodiazepines who have a diagnosis of autism and have a learning disability was 9.2% compared to 1.9% for those who have a diagnosis of autism without a learning disability, a 7.3 percentage point difference.  

AEDs are a type of medication most commonly used in the treatment of epilepsy. They do not cure epilepsy but can stop seizures happening. AEDs are also used to treat other things such as bipolar disorder or migraines.

Each year between 2017-18 and 2021-22, a significantly greater percentage of patients with a learning disability without an active epilepsy diagnosis were treated with epilepsy drugs compared to patients without a learning disability.

The percentage of patients with a learning disability without an active epilepsy diagnosis currently prescribed epilepsy drugs has decreased between 2017-18 (5.5%) and 2021-22 (4.9%), whilst amongst those without a learning disability the proportion remains at the same level as in 2017-18 (2.4%).