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Vol. 714 Tuesday No. 128 3 November 2009 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDER OF BUSINESS Introduction: The Lord Bishop of Lichfield Death of a Member: Lord Steinberg Announcement Questions Health: Side Effects of Medication Health: Walton Report Armed Forces: Political Activity Electoral Commission: Weekend Polling Higher Education Statement Banking Reform Statement Welfare Reform Bill Third Reading Policing and Crime Bill Report (1st Day) Water Management Question for Short Debate Policing and Crime Bill Report (1st Day) (Continued) Written Statements Written Answers For column numbers see back page £3·50 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. The bound volumes also will be sent to those Peers who similarly notify their wish to receive them. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. 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Single copies: Commons, £105; Lords, £40. Standing orders will be accepted. THE INDEX to each Bound Volume of House of Commons Debates is published separately at £9·00 and can be supplied to standing order. WEEKLY INFORMATION BULLETIN, compiled by the House of Commons, gives details of past and forthcoming business, the work of Committees and general information on legislation, etc. Single copies: £1·50. Annual subscription: £53·50. All prices are inclusive of postage. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2009, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ 113 Introduction[3 NOVEMBER 2009] Health: Side Effects of Medication 114 Baroness Thornton: The noble Earl is, I fear, not House of Lords alone in direct experience of what can happen to people who suffer from withdrawal reactions to these Tuesday 3 November 2009 drugs. There are support services available in some areas of the country which have a good success rate in 2.30 pm helping people to withdraw from medicines to which they have become inadvertently addicted, but we recognise Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Wakefield. that the availability of these services is variable and patchy. Our review will seek to identify what needs to be done to better support people experiencing these Introduction: The Lord Bishop of problems. We will also review the services that are Lichfield currently provided in order to gauge the level of support available, and draw on best practice to ensure that we 2.36pm get full cover and support for people in these situations. Jonathan Michael, Lord Bishop of Lichfield, was introduced Lord Ashley of Stoke: My Lords, have the Government and took the oath, supported by the Bishop of Ripon and made their own special study of the effects of these Leeds and the Bishop of Wakefield. tranquillisers? Are they able to impose their views on doctors and pharmaceutical companies? Does the Minister agree that pharmaceutical companies can be far more Death of a Member: Lord Steinberg resistant to pressure from the Government than doctors Announcement and that it will require much stronger pressure on the companies than on the medical professions? 2.40 pm The Lord Speaker (Baroness Hayman): My Lords, I Baroness Thornton: My noble friend asks a very regret that I have to inform the House of the death last pertinent question. Product warnings are kept under night of Lord Steinberg. On behalf of the House, I close review. One example of this relates to products extend our condolences to his family and friends. containing codeine, where new, hard-hitting warnings such as “can cause addiction” and “for three-day use only” on the front of the pack will be introduced next Health: Side Effects of Medication year. Guidance to the healthcare professions will be Question considered as part of the review that is taking place. 2.41 pm Lord Williamson of Horton: My Lords, I declare an interest as a patron of Rethink, the mental health Asked By The Earl of Sandwich charity, which does excellent work. There is also the To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will medication helpline of the Maudsley Hospital. ensure that doctors and pharmaceutical companies Will the Minister consider whether there could be fully recognise the long-term side effects of prescribed improvements in the information available to those tranquillisers and antidepressants, and the nature who suffer from mental health problems as the result of withdrawal symptoms. of withdrawal from prescription drugs? There may be a gap there that we could help to fill. Baroness Thornton: My Lords, the Government are aware of concerns around prescribing these medicines, Baroness Thornton: The noble Lord makes an particularly after the report of the All-Party Parliamentary important point, and the review will be looking at Group on Drugs Misuse. The Department of Health that. There are examples in Liverpool and Bristol of is undertaking a review of addiction to medicines counselling information, education and advice being which is due to report next year, and of course the made available to people, but the noble Lord points to Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency the importance of telling people who are being prescribed continuously monitors the safety of medicines on the these drugs what the side effects might be. UK market and issues advice to raise awareness of the potential for side effects. Lord Elton: My Lords, will the inquiry bear in mind the advisability of advising doctors not merely on the The Earl of Sandwich: My Lords, I thank the Minister dangers of addiction but on the method of keeping in for her reply and I welcome the review. Can she view the condition of people for whom they prescribe confirm that there are approximately 1.5 million people these drugs long-term, and who will become addicted in the UK who are addicted to prescribed drugs such without their own knowledge unless they are carefully as benzodiazepines? I declare an interest. A member monitored? of my family is confined to his room; he is trying to withdraw from one of these drugs. He cannot work or Baroness Thornton: There is a great deal of information take the children to school. There is no government available to prescribers of these drugs: the British benefit or assistance for people in his situation. Can National Formulary; product information; the National the Government confirm that they are getting on with Prescribing Centre, which has an excellent record; a proper NHS network of support for these patients? and—for the treatment of depression, for example—NICE 115 Health: Side Effects of Medication[LORDS] Health: Walton Report 116 [BARONESS THORNTON] Lord Acton: My Lords, does my noble friend agree guidance talks not only about the effect of prescribing that “next year” is a rather long and elastic time? but about the need to provide other therapies to Could the review not be tightened up a bit? people who are suffering from depression. Baroness Thornton: We are moving with all speed Baroness Barker: Does the Minister agree that it because we know that this is important, but I promise would be beneficial if all pharmaceutical companies my noble friend that I will take his views back to the were required to print information about the half-life department and see if there is any way that we can of tranquillisers and anti-depressant drugs, so that hurry up. individuals trying to manage the process of coming off them could do so knowing what the effects were likely to be over a short period? Health: Walton Report Baroness Thornton: In answer to a Question put by Question my honourable friend Jim Dobbin, the Minister said that: 2.49 pm “The half-life of a drug intended for use as a sleeping tablet is only one of many factors that influences the safe use of a Asked By Baroness Thomas of Winchester medicine. Information to aid … safe use … is provided in the product information which consists of the Summary of Product To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their Characteristics … and the Patient Information Leaflet”.—[Official response to the Walton Report on Access to Specialist Report, Commons, 20/5/09; col. 1435W.] Neuromuscular Care, launched in August. The key point is that those resources are used at the right time. Baroness Thornton: The department welcomes the Walton report into services for those living with muscular Lord Crisp: My Lords, in setting up the review, will dystrophy. Following the publication of the National the Minister ensure that it takes full account of Service Framework for Long Term Conditions in 2005 implementation? She will know as well as I do that to improve health and social care services for those there is a difference between policy and implementation.