ABUSE AND INAPPROPRIATE PRESCRIBING

That this House welcomes the announcement that the Department of Health and Comic Relief plan to commission a prevalence study into the level of abuse in care homes; believes this is essential, but not sufficient to tackle the problem; calls for tough action by commissioners and the Commission for Social Care Inspection to put the minority of abusive homes out of business, and for police action to put the worst offenders behind bars; considers that the law is being broken every day by doctors who prescribe, and care home staff who administer antipsychotic drugs to older people with dementia to keep them quiet and manageable as a form of chemical restraint; further believes that the evidence clearly shows that these drugs shorten lives, increase the risk of stroke and have other harmful side-effects; further calls on the Government to ban the use of antipsychotic drugs in all but the most severe cases of dementia and to ensure that their use is routinely reviewed; and urges the Government to ensure that the National Dementia Strategy delivers dignity for older people and ends the scandal of abusive prescribing.