Prescribing of sleeping pills hits record levels

THE prescribing of sleeping tablets has reached record levels, falling just below common cholesterol and diabetes drugs, HSE figures have shown.

Data from the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) for 2009 shows over 596,000 prescriptions were written for the insomnia drug, Zopiclone.

More than 492,000 were prescribed under the state- funded General Medical Scheme (GMS), with a further 104,000 prescriptions written under the Drug Payment Scheme. There is no way of telling how many more were taken by people outside these schemes.