Anti-Psychotic Drugs Kill 2,000 British Dementia Patients Each Year
By Owen Bowcot
November 15, 2009
(Guardian/UK) Nearly 2,000 elderly patients are killed each year by unnecessary anti-psychotic medication, report finds.
Treatment of dementia patients has been promised by the government.
As many as many as 144,000 people suffering from dementia are being given anti-psychotic drugs unnecessarily, according to a review ordered by the Department of Health.
Excessive use of the medication causes an estimated 1,800 deaths and almost as many strokes among older people every year, the study revealed.
The care services minister, Phil Hope, accepted all the recommendations in the review and promised a fundamental change in the treatment of those suffering from dementia.
The numbers being given “chemical restraints” will be reduced, extra training will be given to nursing home staff, more psychological therapies are to be made available and a national clinical director for dementia will be appointed.
The author of the study, Sube Banerjee, professor of mental health and ageing at the institute of psychiatry at King’s College London, said that as few as 36,000 patients were benefiting from the use of anti-psychotic drugs, but their use was widespread and usually unquestioned.
Dementia in the UK
• There are as many as 700,000 people with dementia in this country. In 30 years time, that number is expected to double to 1.4 milliion. Those diagnosed with the condition can live for between seven and 12 years.
• The price of dealing with dementia – mainly residential care costs – stands at £17bn a year. It is expected to rise to £50bn by 2039.
• One in three people over the age of 65 will die with some form of dementia. There are estimated to be 15,000 under the age of 65 suffering from the condition.
Abridged
SOURCE: Federal Jack.Com
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