An expert review commissioned by government ministers in England has found that using anti-psychotic drugs needlessly may kill as many as 1,800 people a year.

Around 180,000 patients receive the drugs either in care homes, hospitals or in their own homes to help control aggression.

BBC News reports that the drugs may be unnecessary in around 150,000 of these patients.

The government has agreed to take steps to reduce the death toll in England by introducing a series of measures that include improving access to alternative types of therapy – such as counselling – and improving the monitoring of prescribing practices.

Healthcare specialists will also offer guidance to families explaining what to do if they are worried about a patient’s medication – and there will be specialist training in dementia for health and social care staff.

The government will also appoint a national director for dementia to oversee the introduction of the new measures.

Lead researcher Professor Sube Banerjee – a dementia expert from King’s College London – said that some level of use of dementia drugs could be expected, but added that anti-psychotic medication should be used for a maximum of three months at a time and only when a patient presented a risk to themselves or others. Prof Banerjee said healthcare needed to develop a ‘different mindset’ when treating dementia patients – and added that only around 36,000 of those treated every year benefited from anti-psychotic drugs.

There have been longstanding concerns about the use of anti-psychotic drugs in the UK – the treatment was originally developed for use in patients with schizophrenia but has increasingly been used to treat those suffering from dementia.

Around 700,000 people currently have some form of dementia, but this figure is expected to rise to one million in the next decade because of an increasingly ageing population.

Health Minister Phil Hope accepted that changes were needed in the treatment of dementia patients.

‘We know there are situations where anti-psychotic drug use is necessary – we're not calling for a ban, but we do want to see a significant reduction in use,’ he said.

The Alzheimer’s Society said the changes represented ‘a fundamental rights issue’.

‘Our members tell us of enormous worry and distress over what is happening to their loved ones,’ said Chief Executive Neil Hunt.

The Royal College of GPs also welcomed the review, saying that people deserved ‘much better’.

The review was commissioned by government ministers in England – ministers elsewhere in the UK have now agreed to study the recommendations.

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