Antipsychotic use in dementia

[Guest guest]

Antipsychotic use in dementia

November 13 2009

" About 145,000 people with dementia are wrongly being prescribed powerful

anti-psychotic medication which causes around 1,800 deaths a year, " The Times

reported. Many newspapers have reported this finding from a

government-commissioned review. The government has responded to the report and

agrees with its main findings.

The report makes several recommendations, mainly that people with dementia

should receive antipsychotics only when they really need them, and that reducing

their use in this group should be a priority for the NHS. It suggests this can

be achieved by various means including training carers and medical staff to use

alternatives to antipsychotics, providing psychological therapies for people

with dementia and their carers, carrying out further research into alternative

treatments, and audits.

The report estimated that antipsychotic use could be safely reduced to a third

of its current usage over a period of three years.

Read More:

http://tinyurl.com/yjwm7gb