§ Dr. NaysmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on trends in the prescribing of benzodiazepines and the action his Department is556W taking to implement the advice of the Committee on Safety of Medicines in January 1988 concerning the continued long-term use of these drugs. [136013]
§ Ms StuartThere has been a gradual reduction in the number of benzodiazepines dispensed in the community in England from 16.6 million in 1991 to 13.4 million in 1999.
Health professionals are reminded of the Committee on Safety of Medicines advice on benzodiazepines in a boxed warning in the British National Formulary. Product information for all benzodiazepines includes warnings and patient information leaflets have been updated to include advice about usage.
It is for individual clinicians, in consultation with their patients, to make decisions about prescribing, bearing in mind the risks and benefits of particular treatments.