Following our letter to Matt Hancock to share our petition, I am pleased to say that Wendy Burn, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, generously accepted a request to meet to discuss tapering strips and our desire for more options for people who wish to taper off their medications gradually. The meeting was held on February 11 at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London. In addition to Wendy and myself, also present were the Head of Policy and Campaigns for RCPsych, a representative of the Royal College of General Practitioners, the developers of tapering strips, Peter Groot and Paul Harder, and Mark Horowitz, a psychiatric researcher.

We had a very positive meeting and were encouraged by the good work going on, specifically on a withdrawal information leaflet for prescribers, which should be available this year. We discussed tapering strips and our desire to trial them in a small number of GP surgeries in the UK. While no formal commitment is yet possible, we were pleased to be able to explain how tapering strips were developed and share some personal experiences of using them.

I think we could all agree that providing gradual withdrawal options for those that need them and hopefully, in time, tapering strips, to sit alongside enhanced withdrawal guidelines is a good target to aim for.

Your signatures and support made this meeting possible. I am so grateful to you. Please keep sharing the petition and encouraging others to sign, it is hugely valuable to share stories and to raise the profile of this important issue. Thank you.