GP allegedly over-prescribing drugs

GARDAÍ in Cork have referred a complaint to the Irish Medical Council concerning the over-prescribing of powerful tranquillising drugs by a doctor in the city.

The referral arises from a complaint that a GP has been prescribing benzodiazepines (BZDs), a highly addictive family of drugs such as Valium and Xanax, to people over long periods which goes against strict guidelines. Clinical best practice rules state the drugs should not be prescribed for longer than four weeks for first-time users.

Figures compiled by the Irish Examiner show that in 2009, more than 1.3 million scripts were written at a cost of €3m. As this only accounts for the medical card and drug payment schemes, it is a vast underestimation of the true extent of the prescribing patterns.

It is understood it is not the first time a complaint regarding over-prescribing has been made in respect of a doctor in Cork. The most recent one was made by a woman who claims that members of her extended family have been prescribed BZDs for years.

“I have been concerned about the prescribing of these drugs for many years and how easy it is to get them. I often confiscate them from family members. They keep going back to this doctor, because they know they can easily get them. I think they are addicted to them now. When they are mixed with drink it’s bad and they come out with very strange thoughts,” the woman said.

An example of the pills being prescribed in this case are Halcion and Anxicalm, otherwise known as diazepam.

Garda sources said the over-prescribing of medications was a concern as, in the course of their work, gardaí do come across a lot of people who are taking prescribed medications which are harmful when abused.

A spokesperson for the Irish Medical Council said GPsmust comply with the misuse of drugs legislation and with other relevant regulations and guidelines, and be aware of the dangers of drug dependency when prescribing BZDs, opiates and other drugs with addictive potential.

The issue of over-prescribing of such drugs was the subject of a conference in Cork last week.

GPs in attendance spoke about difficulties around the lack of resources for additional or alternative supports such as counselling. Also highlighted was the fact that people were coming to GPs based in socially-deprived areas with issues which GPs identified as “life problems”, such as isolation, unemployment. It was recognised that medication is not a solution for such problems, but BZDs were being prescribed to such people.

Meanwhile, a special briefing prepared by the National Suicide Research Foundation for the conference found that of all recorded drug overdoses last year, 42% involved BZDs, representing about 3,560 overdoses presenting to hospital.

According to the NSRF considering the high proportion of minor tranquillisers involved in intentional drug overdose, priority should be given to initiatives restricting access to such drugs, especially when taking into account the legal prohibition of extended use of these drugs.