The dangers of cutting the chemical cosh - by Max Pemberton in TheTelegraph

Research has shown that they (antipsychotics) can double the chance of death and it is estimated that 1,800 people die early because of the drugs. It’s something that needs our urgent attention and I’m delighted to see that the government is taking this seriously.

Words, however, are cheap. Old age psychiatry beds, specialist nurses and well-trained carers are not. Unfortunately, it’s precisely these things that are needed if the pledge is going to actually mean anything and, so far, I’ve heard nothing about this.

Doctors don’t prescribe antipsychotic medication because they want to; they do it because they have to. They are used because they sedate the patient and the alternative – specialist care – is too costly and therefore not readily available. If it isn’t made available – if the steady erosion of mental health services for older people isn’t reversed and the closure of old age psychiatry wards stopped – then this promise will mean nothing and the pledge impossible to implement. The government has twelve months to address this. The clock is ticking.

via telegraph.co.uk

Posted via email from Jack's posterous