DoH: Antipsychotic drugs causing deaths

The Department of Health (DoH), has commissioned a report which indicates that around 1,800 people in the UK die every year after being prescribed antipsychotic drugs.

As a result, the paper is calling for tighter regulation of the issuing of such therapies and has recommended a target of reducing their use by two-thirds within three years.

It also advised that audits of prescriptions should be repeated on an annual basis for the next three years to keep track of any progress made in this area.

The report outlined that up to 180,000 people with dementia are prescribed antipsychotic medication, but just 36,000, or one-quarter, of these gain any benefit from the treatment.

According to the care services minister Phil Hope, who commissioned the report, the UK government has accepted all of the recommendations made by the paper.

Late last month, the DoH announced measures to cut the rise of liver disease in the UK with the forming of the National Strategy for Liver Disease.