Published: Wednesday, 29th March, 2006 10:08
Depression pills concern raised
By Border Telegraph Newsroom
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ANTI-DEPRESSANT prescribing in the Borders is almost double the Scottish average, an MSP claims.
Christine Grahame, the South of Scotland list member, has voiced concern about figures obtained by the SNP.
They show that since 2000 the number of prescriptions issued for anti-depressants by pharmacists and GPs has risen by 44 per cent to 77,163, prompting her calls for a greater range of treatments for those suffering depression.
She said: “I am interested to know why the NHS Borders figures are seemingly so high and I am particularly keen to examine what alternative treatments, such as psychological interventions and cognitive behaviour therapies are not being used more.
“There has been some recent debate that the prescribing of anti-depressants has become the quick-fix solution for dealing with people faced with the growing problem of depression.
“There is an initiative being rolled out in some NHS trusts in Scotland which is trying to look at finding alternative treatments instead of what appears to be a growing reliance on using anti-depressant drugs.”
Ms Grahame also stated that only 38 per cent of Borderers waiting to see a psychologist were seen within 13 weeks, a situation being compounded by staff shortages.
NHS Borders has responded to Ms Grahame’s assertions.
In a statement, it says: “This data cannot distinguish between those prescribed to treat depression and those used, increasingly, to treat certain types of pain.
“Exactly the same drugs can be used for either reason, so not all of the recorded items will have been prescribed for depression.
“This data also does not take account of variations in quantities prescribed between health boards.
“Increasing numbers of Borders practices prescribe in 28-day intervals rather than 56, which doubles the number of prescribed items recorded.
“In addition, most Borders GPs would initially prescribe small quantities of anti-depressants to allow closer patient monitoring, which, again, increases the number of recorded items.”
NHS Borders says it is at the midpoint of Scottish health boards’ prescribing of anti-depressant drugs for the latest quarter, September to December 2005.
While the percentage of the population in 2004/05 using anti-depressants daily in NHS Scotland varied from 5.5 to 9.6 per cent, NHS Borders was below the Scottish average of 8.5 per cent.
NHS Borders has developed a self-help coach service for people with mild depression and anxiety and a second pilot scheme has been funded to establish a care pathway for people with clinical depression.
The local health authority confirmed that a partial booking service had improved waiting times for first appointments, although staffing and recruitment difficulties were unlikely to reduce this further.
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