Physical Health Monitoring for Patients Taking Antipsychotics

Free projects are complete and ready to use. Paid projects can also be adapted to your local requirements. This project uses a fixed Lazomis clinical configuration of 35 audit criteria across cohort and prescribing context, baseline and monitoring responsibility, core cardiometabolic monitoring, medication side-effect review, ECG and cardiovascular risk, action planning and interventions, and communication and continuity. Data collection, dashboards, findings, improvement planning, re-audit and every output are included at no cost.

• Psychiatrists, mental health nurses, GPs and practice nurses
• Clinical pharmacists, medicines optimisation and shared-care teams
• Community mental health, early intervention, learning disability and CAMHS teams
• QI, clinical governance and trainees needing ARCP-ready evidence

• Measure whether baseline and ongoing physical health monitoring is documented
• Review whether cardiometabolic measurements and blood tests are recorded within the expected period
• Review side-effect, movement disorder, prolactin and ECG considerations
• Review action planning, follow-up and communication of monitoring responsibility
• Generate governance-ready and ARCP-ready evidence

• Anonymised case number, care setting, clinical area, monitoring context and reviewer role
• Age band, indication group, treatment stage, route and monitoring responsibility
• Monitoring completeness, side effects reported, ECG status and abnormal findings
• Actions taken, engagement with monitoring and next review plan
• 35 fixed audit criteria (Yes / No / Not applicable, with Unable to determine where relevant)
• Free-text learning points

• Live dashboard
• Audit report (Word)
• Executive summary (Word)
• Excel workbook
• PowerPoint presentation
• Conference poster
• ARCP evidence summary

This ready-built project is developed using the guidance, standards and authoritative sources listed below, so you can see what is being measured and why. Lazomis QI does not publish or own this guidance, and inclusion here does not imply endorsement or approval by any of these organisations.

• NICE

  CG178: Psychosis and schizophrenia in adults: prevention and management(opens the original source in a new tab)

  National guidance on antipsychotic treatment, including baseline and ongoing physical health monitoring responsibilities.

• NICE

  QS80: Psychosis and schizophrenia in adults(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Quality statements covering physical health assessment and monitoring for adults with psychosis and schizophrenia.

• NICE

  CG185: Bipolar disorder: assessment and management(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Relevant where antipsychotic prescribing for bipolar disorder is included in the audit cohort.

• NICE

  QS102: Bipolar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia in children and young people(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Relevant where the audit intentionally includes children and young people prescribed antipsychotic medication.

• NHS England

  Improving the physical health of people living with severe mental illness(opens the original source in a new tab)

  National expectations for physical health checks and follow-up interventions for people living with severe mental illness.

• Royal College of Psychiatrists / National Clinical Audit of Psychosis

  Lester UK Adaptation: Positive Cardiometabolic Health Resource(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Widely used framework for cardiometabolic assessment and intervention in people prescribed antipsychotic medication.

• BNF / MHRA

  British National Formulary and Summary of Product Characteristics(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Medication-specific monitoring requirements, cautions and adverse effects. Confirm medicine-specific monitoring against the BNF and current SmPC.

• Local policy

  Local antipsychotic prescribing, SMI physical health check, shared-care, medicines optimisation, ECG, cardiometabolic, prolactin, clozapine, safeguarding and escalation policies

  Local policies define monitoring intervals, responsibility between primary and secondary care, ECG and prolactin requirements, clozapine pathways and escalation routes. Confirm local policy before interpreting results.

• Designed to use anonymised or pseudonymised audit identifiers.
• This tool supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement.
• Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.
• Organisations remain responsible for local governance arrangements.
• This tool supports clinical audit and quality improvement. It does not replace clinical judgement, local policy, specialist advice or urgent escalation pathways.
• This is not a prescribing guideline, not a medication-selection or dose-adjustment tool, and not a clozapine-specific monitoring system.
• Urgent physical health concerns, suspected serious adverse drug reactions, severe extrapyramidal symptoms, suspected neuroleptic malignant syndrome, acute dystonia, concerning ECG findings, severe cardiometabolic abnormality, safeguarding concern or pregnancy-related concern should be managed according to local urgent or specialist escalation pathways.
• Local antipsychotic prescribing, SMI physical health check, shared-care, medicines optimisation, ECG, prolactin, clozapine, safeguarding and escalation policies should be followed where applicable.
• Use anonymous case identifiers only — never patient-identifiable information.

Supporting guidance from the Lazomis QI Resource Library. Authoritative clinical standards referenced by this project remain separate.

• Clinical GovernanceLeveraging Incident Themes for Quality Improvement and Patient SafetyThis guide helps NHS teams identify and analyse recurring incident themes, transforming reported safety events into practical quality improvement opportunities to enhance patient safety and system reliability.
• Clinical GovernanceIntegrating Quality Improvement into Clinical Governance FrameworksThis article explores the vital relationship between Quality Improvement (QI) and Clinical Governance within the NHS, demonstrating how they are two sides of the same coin when aiming for continuous, systematic improvement in patient care.
• Patient SafetyIntegrating Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: A Practical Guide for UK CliniciansThis guide explains the foundational principles of patient safety and quality improvement (QI) within the UK healthcare context, offering practical strategies for clinicians to enhance safety and improve care delivery.
• Patient SafetyHow to Select a Patient Safety Quality Improvement ProjectThis guide helps NHS teams identify and select patient safety quality improvement (QI) projects that are impactful, achievable, and aligned with organisational and national priorities. Learn how to move from identifying concerns to choosing a focused and measurable project.