MPs urge cut in dementia drug use

[Laylabud]

I have seen this morning it makes very interesting reading, click on the link below



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7366416.stm

Laylabud

 

[Skye]

Wow, my heart sank when I read the title, Laylabud!

The article is actually about the over-prescribing of anti-psychotic medication, not the basic three AD drugs, thankfully.

There's a thread about this here:

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/talkingpoint/discuss/showthread.php?p=133628#post133628

 

[CraigC]

Think it is great news that the report highlights these issues but was a bit disappointed that they did not highlight educating GPs and the medical profession. In our case, it was the GP that worked with the home and prescribed an inappropriate drug without consulting us in the first instance.

There are more details here:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=272

If taken on board, these recommendations go a long way. The 5 point plan makes a lot of sense to me.

"Compulsory Reviews every 12 weeks" is the one that hits hardest. The prescribe and forget culture is the most damaging.

Nice to see some recommendations instead of just putting the fear of death in all of us.

Kind Regards
Craig

 

[Laylabud]

Wow, my heart sank when I read the title, Laylabud!

Sorry Hazel, should have made it more clearer.

Laylabud

 

[Skye]

Not your fault, Laylabud, it's the heading the BBC used!

 

[Margarita]

The prescribe and forget culture is the most damaging.

yes it is a shame, the same could be said with Cancer.




At lest now it won’t be carried on into the future culture generation, seem to me that is how society as a whole learns when it come to medication , more awareness understanding of Diseases’

( You know me always making a positive out of negative)

The committee looked at the prescription of antipsychotics to care home residents.

It concluded that around 70% of prescriptions are inappropriate, equating to around 105,000 people with dementia.

People also often stayed on the medication for far longer than was necessary, it concluded.

The MPs propose a five-point plan to address the issue for inclusion in the government's National Dementia Strategy, due to be published later this year.

* Specialist dementia training for all care home staff
* Families to be involved in all decisions about giving the drugs
* More support for care home staff from GPs, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses
* Compulsory patient reviews every 12 weeks
* A cost-effectiveness review by NICE, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence and a national audit by the Care Quality Commission, which supervises care homes

Jeremy Wright MP, chairman of the group, said: "The government must end this needless abuse and make the five-point-plan a key element of the strategy.

"Safeguards must be put in place to ensure antipsychotics are always a last resort."

He added: "We need to include families in decisions, give people with dementia regular reviews and equip care staff with specialist training.

That all does sound like Good news