Elderly patients are being admitted hospital after suffering from side effects from multiple drugs (Image: Getty)
Thousands of elderly people are being admitted to the hospital due to being overprescribed medications. An investigation found that doctors are prescribing dangerous levels of medication to elderly patients, which are causing a series of reactions, including low blood pressure, dizziness and irregular heartbeats. The consumption of cocktails of medicines is also leading to falls.
It’s been found that eight million people in the UK are at risk of medical side effects as a result of being prescribed five or more drugs to take daily. A study published earlier this year revealed that around 2.2 million Brits take 10 drugs a day.
Polypharmacy is a term used to define the concurrent use of five medications by a single individual; at this point, the risk of side effects increases, making it especially dangerous for frail patients and those living with mobility issues.
Analysis of NHS data reveals that as many as 1,000 elderly patients a day are admitted for emergency care in hospital after suffering a preventable reaction to a drug they are taking. Coroners have also warned about the dangers of polypharmacy contributing to deaths, The Sunday Times reports.
Studies note systemic failures in the NHS as the cause of the over-prescription epidemic. Time constraints and appointment shortages, combined with fragmented care across hospitals, homes and GPs, can sometimes lead to a pile-up of medications, with the side-effects of one being misdiagnosed as a new condition.
Regular intake of five or more drugs increases the risk of side effects (Image: Getty)
Medications properly prescribed in the past can later become dangerous as a patient ages. However, doctors have urged that no one should stop taking meds without first speaking to their GP or specialist doctor.
They added that drugs prescribed to elderly people will be vital.
Jugdeep Dhesi, president of the British Geriatrics Society and a consultant geriatrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, said: “The more tablets that you take, the more likely there are interactions, and this can happen more the older you are.”
She added: “We have got these statistics and evidence coming at us, and we’re all really worried about it, but the system just keeps on looking down and thinking if we just carry on doing the same thing, it’ll be okay. It won’t.”
The crisis of over-prescribing costs the NHS an estimated £2.21 billion a year, according to figures published by the University of Southampton.
Now, leading clinicians are calling for doctors to receive improved training in de-prescribing or stopping drugs, specialist geriatricians (elderly care experts), and medication reviews for elderly patients.
A new national plan for the care of the frail elderly is due to be published in January. It will set modern standards for the care of the elderly, including medication prescribing.
An NHS spokesperson said: “We know we need to do more to meet the needs of our ageing population better and that’s why we have made it clear to NHS organisations what the best interventions are to provide effective community support for frail people through new guidance, such as ensuring their care plans involve regular medication reviews so that only medicines that are clinically appropriate are prescribed.”