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Compliance With DVLA Guidelines Within an Early Intervention in Psychosis Service

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2025

Charlotte Matheson  and
Rachael Elliott
Charlotte Matheson
Affiliation:
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Doncaster, United Kingdom
Rachael Elliott
Affiliation:
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, United Kingdom University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
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Abstract

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Aims: Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services provide specialised support for individuals experiencing their first episode of psychosis. Psychosis can impair cognitive and motor skills, which may affect an individual’s ability to drive safely. If a patient’s fitness to drive may be impaired by their condition or treatment, both DVLA and the GMC advises doctors to (i) alert patients to this issue, (ii) inform patients of their legal obligation to notify the DVLA, and (iii) document advice regarding fitness to drive in the patient’s medical records. This audit aimed to assess the EIP teams’ compliance with these guidelines.

Methods: A retrospective audit of 52 patients referred most recently to the EIP services. Online patient case notes were reviewed for information on (i) driving status, (ii) licence status, (iii) information provided on driving, including the need to inform DVLA.

Results: 59% (n=31) patients had driving status recorded by the EIP team, 81% (n=42) had licence status recorded. 10% (n=5) had no information about their driving or licence status. 27% (n=14) of patients received general advice about driving by the EIP team.

31% (n=16) of patients held a current driving licence, 69% (n=11) of these received advice about driving, 56% (n=9) were advised to inform the DVLA.

Conclusion: The majority of patients with a current driving licence received driving advice. However, a significant proportion did not, posing risks to both patients and the public. The EIP team should aim for 100% compliance with the DVLA/GMC guidance.

Requesting information about driving status is already included in the EIP clerking proforma. To improve adherence to completing this documentation, the audit findings will be presented to the multi-disciplinary team to raise awareness and reinforce the importance of this section. In addition, a poster with proforma screenshots will be distributed to support colleagues in locating it this section. A re-audit in six months will assess progress and determine if further interventions are needed.

Type
Audit
Information
BJPsych Open , Volume 11 , Supplement S1: Abstracts from the RCPsych International Congress 2025, 23–26 June , June 2025 , pp. S256
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists

Footnotes

Abstracts were reviewed by the RCPsych Academic Faculty rather than by the standard BJPsych Open peer review process and should not be quoted as peer-reviewed by BJPsych Open in any subsequent publication.

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