Antidepressant costs rocket to £3.5m a month

As Covid puts strain on mental health

PRESCRIPTIONS of antidepressants have spiralled during lockdown, with an average of £3.5million being spent on the drugs every month.

NHS records reveal £21million worth of the pills were given out in the first six months of the Covid-19 health crisis.

The figure is £11million more than the same period in 2019 and comes as a result of 27million extra doses being prescribed.

It has sparked calls from the Royal College of GPs for ministers to scrap ten-minute consultations, which doctors claim do not benefit patients.

Antidepressants are commonly used for the treatment of depression, as well as anxiety and panic attacks. However, they can cause side-effects such as confusion, agitation, nausea and in rare cases suicidal thoughts, according to the NHS.

The release of the figures comes five months after a fatal accident inquiry found that the death of 13-year-old Sophie Moss from Dundee could have been avoided had her parents received adequate advice about the antidepressants she was taking.

Campaigner Marion Brown, of patient support group Recovery and Renewal, said the problem has now reached crisis point following a failed series of talks with the Scottish Government.

She said: ‘The health service of this country has become overdependent on antidepressants, there’s no question about it.

‘Our GPs are over a barrel and have become reliant on them as a stopgap when other therapies are increasingly in short supply. This has been even more stark in lockdown. People are being given these drugs as soon as they present to their doctor with depression and it is a slippery slope because coming off them is hugely dangerous.

‘We have been trying to make the Scottish Government aware of the problems with antidepressants but we have been fobbed off. Every year more people are taking their own lives as a result of antidepressants.’

Figures from NHS Services Scotland show that the year before the pandemic, the average ‘quantity’ of antidepressants being distributed to patients outside of hospitals per month was 22.5million.

This figure remained consistent until February last year, the month before lockdown.

But the same data reveals that between March and August that year, that figure rocketed by almost two million.

Similarly the average number of prescriptions, for the same antidepressants, grew from 424,400 a month to 450,600.

Dr Carey Lunan, chair of Royal College of GPs Scotland said: ‘The level of distress people are experiencing during this pandemic, compounded by the reduced availability of community services, access to usual support networks, employment insecurity and lack of access to talking therapies all play a part in higher levels of prescribing.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said it has spent £6million expanding mental health support services, adding: ‘The prescription of anti-depressants is a clinical decision made in discussion with the patient.

‘This has been a very difficult period for many, particularly those experiencing mental ill health. People experiencing mental ill health should expect highquality care, which can include medication if they need it.’

‘We have been fobbed off’