Doctors regularly dole out powerful antidepressant and anti-psychotic drugs to vulnerable people who should not be taking them, health bosses admitted today.

Every day in England 35,000 people with learning disabilities are prescribed the pills without any justification, according to a report into the problem.

In a letter to doctors and patients, senior NHS England officials admitted that drugs were being used as a ‘chemical restraint’ to control behaviour, in place of more appropriate treatments.

Their admission will fuel growing concerns that the nation has become ‘over-medicalised’ and that thousands of patients are suffering harmful side effects as a result.

Health charities last night reacted with fury to the revelations.

Dan Scorer, head of policy at Mencap, said: ‘The research findings issued today by the NHS shine a light on the shocking scale of the inappropriate use of medication.

‘It is simply outrageous that up to 35,000 adults with a learning disability are being prescribed an anti-psychotic, an antidepressant or both without appropriate clinical justification.’

Just last week a report from the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre revealed that 57.1 million prescriptions for antidepressants were written by GPs and pharmacists last year - a figure that has almost doubled in the last decade from 29 million in 2004.

The number of anti-psychotics prescriptions rose from 6.6 million to 10.5 million in the same period.

A separate study, published by the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that 9 per cent of British adults have recently taken antidepressants - the fourth highest rate in Europe.

Many experts worry that doctors are prescribing drugs to their patients because of long waiting lists for therapies such as counselling.

Dominic Slowie, NHS England’s national clinical director for learning disabilities, said: ‘This is a historic problem, but one that nobody knew the true scale of - that is why we worked with patients, carers and professionals to get to the bottom of the issues once and for all.

‘These medicines can be helpful when used appropriately and kept under review, but the prevalence and the lack of review or challenge that these reports have highlighted is completely unacceptable, and we are determined to take action to protect this group of patients from over-medication.’

A letter signed by Dr Slowie and Dr Keith Ridge, the chief pharmaceutical officer, said that a study by Public Heath England had found ‘a high level of inappropriate use’ of the drugs.

Some 58 per cent of adults receiving anti-psychotics and 32 per cent of those receiving antidepressants had no relevant diagnosis which would have justified their use, they said.

Dr Slowie and Dr Ridge wrote: ‘Some of these medicines can be used wholly inappropriately, as a “chemical restraint” to control behaviour, in place of other more appropriate treatment options.

‘In a significant number of cases medication appeared to be prescribed primarily to manage behaviour that was perceived as challenging rather than for symptoms of mental illness.’

The doctors called for an ‘urgent action summit’ of doctors and patients’ families to reduce the use of inappropriate drugs.

Mencap and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation issued a joint statement condemning the trends exposed in the report.

They said: ‘This confirms what we have heard from families time and time again about their loved ones being given high levels of antidepressant or anti-psychotic medication, often for years.

‘In many cases families report serious side effects and no evidence that the medication is helping the individual.

‘Fundamental changes must now be delivered, addressing a widespread culture of ‘chemical restraint’, and replacing it with individualised behaviour support.’

Gyles Glover, co-director of the learning disabilities team at Public Health England, said that with services overstretched, he could see how these drugs have become ‘considered normal or necessary’ to try to manage challenging behaviour.

‘However the report, which is the first of its kind, suggests that psychiatric drugs are used more widely than is appropriate and this comes with risk,’ he added.

Dr Ashok Roy of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said: ‘Such medication should only be used for the treatment of psychoses and mood disorders, and in all instances should be used as part of a multi-professional treatment plan, clearly specifying the anticipated benefits, duration of treatment and possible side effects of such medication.

‘But most importantly, such a plan should also include psychosocial and environmental interventions to be provided alongside medication to ensure needs-led person centred care is in place.’ 

Written By Ben Spencer

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