On October 19th, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence released new research estimating that approximately £500 million of taxpayers’ money is wasted each year in England on dependency-forming medicines, including antidepressants, painkillers, and sleeping pills.
This research builds on findings from Public Health England’s 2019 Prescribed Medicines Review, which reported that over a quarter of England’s adult population (26.3%) had been prescribed a dependency-forming medication in the past year.
The new study, titled “The Estimated Costs Incurred by the NHS in England Due to the Unnecessary Prescribing of Dependency-Forming Medications,” was published in the journal Addictive Behaviors. The researchers define unnecessary prescribing as practices that either violate current NICE guidelines or lack evidence for efficacy or continued clinical need despite prolonged use.
The research team, comprising academics, psychologists, a psychiatrist, an economist, and clinicians from the University of Roehampton, University of Greenwich, and University College London (UCL), reviewed data on the same medications covered in the PHE 2019 review: antidepressants, opioids, gabapentinoids, benzodiazepines, and Z-drugs.
A webinar discussing this research, held on October 19, 2021, is available for viewing. It features presentations from Dr. James Davies, co-lead author of the study, and Prof. Joanna Moncrieff, who discusses the harms of long-term prescribing. Additionally, June Lovell, manager of the only NHS-run prescribed drug withdrawal service in the UK, provides insights into the service’s demands and cost-effectiveness.
