GPs are to be urged to stop writing repeat prescriptions for people for have become dependent on common drugs such as antidepressents as figures show 8.4million people in England were prescribed the pills last year. Painkillers and sleeping pills are also on the list to be targeted with doctors urged to send people to art and gardening classes instead.
Patients being weaned off the drugs will be offered support groups and clinics, reports The Times.
The number of people being prescribed antidepressants has gone up 8% in three years and around 65% of people who have them have been taking them for more than a year. People can experience side effects when they try to stop taking them.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said: “We know that patients who require prescriptions for potentially addictive drugs can become dependent and struggle with withdrawal, and this new action plan helps NHS services to continue positive work in this space having already slashed opioid prescriptions by almost half a million over the past four years.”
GPs will be asked to regularly review repeat prescriptions and pharmacists will be asked to report people they notice have been on a drug for a long time.
