BREAKTHROUGH IN TEN YEAR CAMPAIGN TO STOP CHEMICAL COSH - BURSTOW

12.27.29pm GMT Wed 18th Nov 2009

Hundreds of thousands of dementia patients are being wrongly prescribed powerful "chemical cosh" drugs, with an estimate of 1,800 dying every year as a result, a Government report has said.

Local Liberal Democrat MP, Paul Burstow, who has led a 10-year campaign highlighting the risks of over and inappropriate prescribing, said: "This review comes much too late for thousands of elderly people whose lives have been cut short by the reckless prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs.

"The evidence that anti-psychotic drugs do more harm than good has been mounting for years. 13,000 lives could have been saved if Ministers had kept a pledge seven years ago to ensure that older people had regular medicine reviews.

According to the report just one in five of those given the drugs in care homes and hospitals derive any benefit from them. Around 180,000 people with dementia are through to be on the drugs with up to 150,000 of those receiving them unnecessarily.

The report calls for changes to prescribing practice and a reduction in the use of the drugs.

Anti-psychotic drugs are licensed to treat people with schizophrenia but used off-licence for dementia patients. They are prescribed to control symptoms such as aggression, agitation and hallucinations but critics like Mr Burstow say they are often given to heavily sedate people.

The drugs are also believed to double the risk of death and treble the risk of stroke amongst dementia sufferers.

ENDS