The APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence is pleased that Panorama is shining a spotlight on the scandalous story of antidepressant overprescribing and dependence. While these drugs can be helpful for some people – at least over the short term – they have been prescribed much too easily too far too many people over recent decades. […]
BBC Panorama: The Antidepressant Story – June 2023
The APPG will publish a response to this documentary after its scheduled broadcast on the 19th June. For anyone impacted by this programme there are some useful links available here. The APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence continues to lobby for the DHSC to provide ring-fenced funding both for: local withdrawal support services, that ICS’s have been […]
Baroness Masham of Ilton
All at the APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence are very sorry to hear the sad news about Baroness Masham of Ilton today – she was a long-term and dedicated member of our APPG whose presence will be missed. “Sue Masham was one of the most modest, genuine, natural people you could meet and alongside this […]
Press Release: APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence welcomes new action plan by NHS England to tackle prescribed drug dependence and withdrawal
EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 2 MARCH 2023 2 March 2023 The APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence today welcomes the publication of the NHS England Framework for Action ‘Optimising personalised care for adults prescribed medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms’ (also attached). This framework is intended to encourage Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to develop and deliver safe deprescribing […]
AGM and meeting 24th January 2023 PCH 11am
There will be an AGM and meeting for parliamentarians and invited guests on Tuesday 24th January from 11am in PCH. The external speaker will be Dr Mark Horowitz, who will present to the group on “What prescribers and pharmacists need to deprescribe safely”. Mark is Clinical Research Fellow in Psychiatry, training psychiatrist University College London, NE London […]
APPG for Prescribed Drug Dependence Press Release: New NICE guidance to tackle prescribed drug dependence fails to listen to patient evidence
For immediate release 20 April 2022 The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has today published new guidelines which are intended to support the safe prescribing and withdrawal of medicines that can cause dependence, including antidepressants, opioids, gabapentinoids and benzodiazepines.There are several positive changes in this new guidance, including the need for doctors […]
Danny Kruger MP submits response to Council of Europe paper on ‘Addiction to Prescribed Medicines’
In 2013 Jim Dobbin MP, then chair of the forerunner of this group, the APPG for Involuntary Tranquilliser Addiction, submitted a motion to the CoE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development to conduct an investigation, to: “explore the current situation in Europe with respect to involuntary addiction to prescription medicines, examine examples of […]
Response to NICE regarding the draft Safe Prescribing and Withdrawal Guideline
APPG Chair Danny Kruger MP, and co-chair Lord Crisp have written to Dr Paul Chrisp, Director of the Centre for Guidelines in response to the draft Safe Prescribing and Withdrawal Guideline. They express concerns that the withdrawal management sections of the draft guideline do not currently provide the basic information about tapering to enable patients to […]
AGM held 18th January 2022 elects Chair and Officers
Danny Kruger MP chaired an online AGM and meeting on 18th January 2022. The new list of elected parliamentarians can be found here. The minutes of the meeting are now available.
New research shows £500m wasted each year in England on dependency-forming medicines
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence released new research on the 19th October which estimates that around half a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money is wasted each year in England on medicines that can cause dependency, including antidepressants, painkillers and sleeping pills. This research follows the publication in 2019 of Public Health England’s Prescribed Medicines Review, which […]