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 (a) tackle the over-prescribing of medicines and (b) ensure reviews of prescriptions are carried out for people who have been on medication for prolonged periods of time.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has asked Dr Keith Ridge, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, to carry out a review into overprescribing of medicines.

The review is due to report in spring 2020. It will align with and build on the emerging Medicine Safety Programme and Public Health England’s independent review into ‘dependence and withdrawal associated with some prescribed medicines’, published in September 2019, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prescribed-medicines-review-report

To support appropriate prescribing, the 2020/21 GP contract will introduce new requirements for primary care networks (PCNs) to undertake Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs), which will help to address overprescribing of medicines. From 1 April 2020, each PCN will use appropriate tools to identify and prioritise patients who would benefit from an SMR.