Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the training of GPs sufficiently covers the need to avoid prescribing dependence forming medicines for longer than the safe period.
The Department has commissioned Public Health England to undertake an evidence review to understand better the scope of the problem of prescribed drug dependence. The review will consider existing evidence and engage with a variety of stakeholders, with a view to capturing levels of awareness amongst both healthcare professionals and patients of the issues associated with prescription drug dependence.