§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has issued to clinicians on the prescribing of benzodiazepines over the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [155155]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Committee on the Safety of Medicines' advice of 1988 has been reiterated in the "Drug Misuse and Dependence—Guidelines on Clinical Management" (1999) and in the "British National Formulary", which is sent to all doctors within the national health service biannually.
The advice has been restated in the Chief Medical Officer's Update dated January 2004, which announced that the Department is planning to introduce instalment dispensing of benzodiazepines to minimise access to excessive doses.