Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to limit the over-prescription of medication by GPs to patients judged to be at risk from them.

It is for a general practitioner or other responsible clinician to work with their patient to determine the most clinically appropriate treatment for the individual. In September 2021, we published a review of over-prescribing ‘Good for you, good for us, good for everybody’. It sets out actions to reduce patient harm by reducing unnecessary prescribing. A three-year national over-prescribing programme is being established to lead on implementation of the 20 recommendations in the review.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are implementing the recommendations in ‘Dependence and withdrawal associated with some prescribed medicines: An evidence review’, published in September 2019 by the former Public Health England. A framework for action is also being developed to support integrated care systems and partners to optimise the delivery of personalised care for patients at risk of or experiencing prescribed drugs dependence or withdrawal.