Saturday, December 16, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Ministers act to wean Scotland off £55m-a-year antidepressant habit
LYNDSAY MOSS HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
DOCTORS issued more than 3.5 million prescriptions for antidepressants in Scotland last year, three times what they were handing out 13 years ago, official figures have revealed.
A huge increase in the number of people seeking help for depression, combined with a shortage of alternative therapies, is blamed for the massive increase in the issuing of drugs such as Prozac.
Scotland spends 40 per cent more per head of population on antidepressants compared to the rest of the UK, costing the NHS £55 million a year.
Ministers are so concerned about the situation that they have launched a campaign to offer alternative treatments in an attempt to limit, and eventually to reverse, the trend.
The rise in prescriptions is dramatic. According to Scottish Executive figures, in 1992-3, Scottish GPs issued 1.16 million prescriptions, costing just £12.28 million. By last year, this had risen to 3.52 million prescriptions.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said a likely explanation for the increase in prescriptions was that more people were seeking help from their doctor, rather than that Scotland was becoming a more depressed country.
But he said the lack of alternative treatments was also driving the trend. "Even where GPs do not want to prescribe antidepressants they are forced to reach for the prescription pad because there may be long waits for therapies such as counselling," Dr McCulloch said.
"These drugs are not effective in mild depression but if it is a choice between that and a ten-month wait to see a therapist, doctors don't feel they have any other option. Ten months is a lifetime if you are living with depression."
He welcomed the target to halt increases in antidepressant prescribing, but said other services must be delivered.
Ruth Lang, information officer at Depression Alliance Scotland said: "In many cases there are just not enough counsellors to treat people without drugs. GPs are in a no-win situation because they can't refer patients for counselling but can't not treat them either."
Ms Lang said doctors were already starting to use different treatments for depression, such as exercise programmes. But antidepressants should still be available for those who benefit from them.
"We would support reducing antidepressant prescribing but only if other services are in place," she said.
Yesterday's Executive report, Delivering for Mental Health, includes 14 commitments to improve services, including providing more access to psychological therapies, funded to the tune of £2.5 million. It pledged to halt the rise in antidepressant prescriptions by 2009-10.
The report said the target was not a criticism of existing practice or of the drugs, but it "reflects the need to ensure that GPs are able to call on and offer the best treatment for these illnesses and not just the most convenient".
Ministers also pledged to reduce the number of mental health patients having to be readmitted to hospital by 10 per cent by the end of 2009, by providing more support for people at home.
The health minister, Lewis Macdonald, said the mental health of young people was also a priority, and that everyone working with children would have basic mental health training by 2008.
He said the Executive was also committed to halving the number of children who have to be admitted to mental health beds set aside for adults by 2009.
Dr Tom Brown, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, backed the report. Dr Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative health spokeswoman, said the Executive's intentions were good, but more needed to be done.
The SNP also welcomed moves towards a wider range of mental health services.
DOCTORS issued more than 3.5 million prescriptions for antidepressants in Scotland last year, three times what they were handing out 13 years ago, official figures have revealed.
A huge increase in the number of people seeking help for depression, combined with a shortage of alternative therapies, is blamed for the massive increase in the issuing of drugs such as Prozac.
Scotland spends 40 per cent more per head of population on antidepressants compared to the rest of the UK, costing the NHS £55 million a year.
Ministers are so concerned about the situation that they have launched a campaign to offer alternative treatments in an attempt to limit, and eventually to reverse, the trend.
The rise in prescriptions is dramatic. According to Scottish Executive figures, in 1992-3, Scottish GPs issued 1.16 million prescriptions, costing just £12.28 million. By last year, this had risen to 3.52 million prescriptions.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said a likely explanation for the increase in prescriptions was that more people were seeking help from their doctor, rather than that Scotland was becoming a more depressed country.
But he said the lack of alternative treatments was also driving the trend. "Even where GPs do not want to prescribe antidepressants they are forced to reach for the prescription pad because there may be long waits for therapies such as counselling," Dr McCulloch said.
"These drugs are not effective in mild depression but if it is a choice between that and a ten-month wait to see a therapist, doctors don't feel they have any other option. Ten months is a lifetime if you are living with depression."
He welcomed the target to halt increases in antidepressant prescribing, but said other services must be delivered.
Ruth Lang, information officer at Depression Alliance Scotland said: "In many cases there are just not enough counsellors to treat people without drugs. GPs are in a no-win situation because they can't refer patients for counselling but can't not treat them either."
Ms Lang said doctors were already starting to use different treatments for depression, such as exercise programmes. But antidepressants should still be available for those who benefit from them.
"We would support reducing antidepressant prescribing but only if other services are in place," she said.
Yesterday's Executive report, Delivering for Mental Health, includes 14 commitments to improve services, including providing more access to psychological therapies, funded to the tune of £2.5 million. It pledged to halt the rise in antidepressant prescriptions by 2009-10.
The report said the target was not a criticism of existing practice or of the drugs, but it "reflects the need to ensure that GPs are able to call on and offer the best treatment for these illnesses and not just the most convenient".
Ministers also pledged to reduce the number of mental health patients having to be readmitted to hospital by 10 per cent by the end of 2009, by providing more support for people at home.
The health minister, Lewis Macdonald, said the mental health of young people was also a priority, and that everyone working with children would have basic mental health training by 2008.
He said the Executive was also committed to halving the number of children who have to be admitted to mental health beds set aside for adults by 2009.
Dr Tom Brown, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, backed the report. Dr Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative health spokeswoman, said the Executive's intentions were good, but more needed to be done.
The SNP also welcomed moves towards a wider range of mental health services.
Pill Popping Culture
IN 2005, the House of Commons health committee accused drug companies of fostering a pill-popping culture under which medicines were used to resolve every problem - but especially mild depression.
In a report, the MPs said the pharmaceutical industry was acting as a "disease-monger", classing as many people as possible as "abnormal" and therefore in need of drugs.
"This process has led to an unhealthy over-reliance on, and over-use of, medicines. It also diverts resources and priorities from more significant diseases and health problems," the committee said.
A great deal of this was because patients complaining of mild depression were increasingly being prescribed anti-depressants, rather than being made aware that "unhappiness is part of the spectrum of human experience, not a medical condition".
The MPs said: "Inappropriate prescription of medicines by GPs is of particular concern." Some doctors had prescribed anti-depressants on a grand scale, many of them linked with high rates of suicide.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1808152006
In a report, the MPs said the pharmaceutical industry was acting as a "disease-monger", classing as many people as possible as "abnormal" and therefore in need of drugs.
"This process has led to an unhealthy over-reliance on, and over-use of, medicines. It also diverts resources and priorities from more significant diseases and health problems," the committee said.
A great deal of this was because patients complaining of mild depression were increasingly being prescribed anti-depressants, rather than being made aware that "unhappiness is part of the spectrum of human experience, not a medical condition".
The MPs said: "Inappropriate prescription of medicines by GPs is of particular concern." Some doctors had prescribed anti-depressants on a grand scale, many of them linked with high rates of suicide.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1808152006
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