Medication Compliance

Introduction
Medication compliance is a significant issue in the care of people with mental health conditions, particularly if the mental health condition is of an enduring and severe nature. The reason for this is that there is an increased likelihood of symptoms returning without the individual maintaining adherence to a prescribed medication regime. Conditions such as schizophrenia, psychosis and bi polar disorder fall under the remit of severe and enduring mental illness and it is reported that medication non compliance is likely to have severe implications to an individual’s psychological health and wellbeing (Le Page, 2010).
Leahy (2006) estimates that up to 70% of recurrent depression patients and around one half of schizophrenia patients are noncompliant with their prescribed medication and there is also a direct relation between medication noncompliance and an increased need for hospitalisation. This in turn has a whole range of implications in terms of the impact this has on employment, relationships, income, and parental responsibility and of course the impact on resources provided by health providers such as the NHS should also be acknowledged.
This assignment will examine and reflect on the case of a 40 year old gentleman with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The gentleman, who shall be referred to as Mr Smith for the purpose of this assignment (names have been changed to ensure client confidentiality as per NMC guidelines) has been receiving neuroleptic depot medication (Flupenthixol) to treat the symptoms of a schizophrenic condition, however Mr Smith has stated that he no longer was willing to accept the administration of the depot injection because he ‘felt better’.
The assignment will start by briefly exploring the concept of compliance and the consequences of Mr Smith declining to take the prescribed medication and the potential impact this will have on his mental health. The second part of this assignment will reflect on how the practitioner...