Hundreds of thousands of people who are on prescription drugs in England are getting hooked on them. A Public Health review looked at the use of strong painkillers, sleeping tablets and antidepressants.
Last year almost 12 million people were prescribed addictive drugs and half of these were taking them long term.
The review found that at the end of March 2018 half of people using these drugs were on them for at least 12 months. Official personnels said the long term use on a big scale can not be explained and there was signs of patients becoming dependent on the drugs.
PHE medical director Prof Paul Cosford said there were too many cases of patients using them for longer than “clinically” appropriate.
Five classes of medicines were included in the review, they were:
- Antidepressants
- Opioid painkillers for acute pain and injury (excluding use in cancer patients)
- Gabapentinoids (used to treat epilepsy, anxiety and nerve-related pain)
- Benzodiazepines (mostly prescribed for anxiety)
- Z-drugs (sleeping tablets)
The number of prescriptions has been rising for a long time. Opioid painkillers should actually only be used for short periods of time but many people who were assessed in the review had been taking them for a year or more; 540,000 people were taking them for at least three years.
Peter Burkinshaw at PHE, one of the authors of the review said: “The long-term prescribing of opioid pain medicines and benzodiazepines is not supported by guidelines and is not effective.”
Fellow author Rosanna O’Connor, said: “We know that GPs in some of the more deprived areas are under great pressure but, as this review highlights, more needs to be done to educate and support patients, as well as looking closely at prescribing practice and what alternative treatments are available locally.
“While the scale and nature of opioid prescribing does not reflect the so-called crisis in North America, the NHS needs to take action now to protect patients.”
