Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 266845, on antidepressants what assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing a policy to monitor the proportion of patients prescribed antidepressants who do not take that medication for the prescribed length of time.

The Department has made no such assessment. The Government expects clinicians to prescribe anti-depressants responsibly and to follow the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on shared decision-making when discussing care and treatment options with their patients. This includes agreeing any treatment monitoring arrangements.