150000 dementia sufferers 'being prescribed antipsychotic drugs unnecessarily'

» By hilary | the 11-12-2009 at 11:55 | 108 views (51 unique) | 2 comments | Report post!

Only around 36,000 of the 180,000 people on the drugs in the UK derive any benefit from them, it said.

Overprescribing of the drugs is linked to an extra 1,800 deaths a year among elderly people.
Phil Hope, the care services minister, promised to crack down on the practice, including appointing a new national clinical director for dementia.

He also promised measures to

ensure more use of psychological therapies rather than relying on drugs.

Anti-psychotic medicines are licensed to treat people with schizophrenia and are used off-licence for dementia patients in care homes and hospitals.

In his review, Sube Banerjee, professor of mental health and ageing at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said the rate of use of anti-psychotic drugs could be cut to one third of its current level with appropriate action.

He said this could be done safely over three years.

This post has been written from the inspiration word "150000 dementia sufferers 'being prescribed antipsychotic drugs unnecessarily'"