Government says overprescribing of medicines must stop

A report has warned that many patients in England are being prescribed unnecessary and even harmful treatments.

The review suggests 10 per cent of items dispensed by primary care services are inappropriate or could be changed to more appropriate treatment.

Around 15 per cent of people currently take five or more medicines a day, some of which are to deal with the side-effects of the others.

The government is appointing a prescribing tsar to oversee the issue and help to stop waste.

Dr Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer for England, said “Medicines do people a lot of good and this report is absolutely not about taking treatment or services away from people where they are effective.  But medicines can also cause harm and can be wasted.”

The number of items dispensed by GPs and other primary care services has doubled in recent years, increasing from an average of 10 per person in 1996 to around 20 per person, according to the report.

Around 65 per cent of hospital admissions are due to adverse effects of medicines, a number which rises to up to 20 per cent in the over-65 age group.

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said “Prescribing is a core skill for GPs and many of our nurse and pharmacist colleagues in primary care, and doing whatever we can to prescribe the most appropriate medicine for our patients, in an evidence-based way is something we strive to do on a daily basis – and in the vast majority of cases, this review shows this is happening.

“With our growing and ageing population, with more patients living with multiple, chronic conditions, many people are taking several medications in order to manage their various health illnesses, and the interaction between various medicines is something prescribers will take into account.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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