Dear Mr Perrott
Thank you for your email of 11 May to the Department of Health requesting under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, the following information:
My recent FOI request for a redaction of “the scale of the problem” regarding a briefing for Gillian Merron prior to a visit to Oldham Tranx in 2009 was refused for the following reasons under section 35 given below. As the evidence gathering reviews are now complete I am resubmitting my request for the redacted figure.
The reports are now completed and published we are happy to release the figure redacted from briefing provided to Gillian Merron for her visit to the Oldham Benzo Withdrawal Clinic on Monday 21 September 2009.
The reports were published on 11May 2011 and are available at the following internet addresses:
www.nta.nhs.uk/addiction-to-medicine.aspx
An extract of the un-redacted briefing is provided below with the previously redacted information highlighted in italics:
National Policy – Addiction to Prescription Drugs
Background
Scale of the problem: An estimated 1.1m people are addicted to tranquilisers and sleeping medications. However, more work is needed to confirm how many people using such medications are experiencing adverse side-effects and problems with withdrawal.
As you will know, the All-Party Parliamentary Group inquiry into Physical Dependence and Addiction to Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medication (published in 2009) includes a 1.5m prevalence estimate of dependency on benzodiazepines. This was informed by oral evidence provided by Professor Ashton. This evidence reflects the estimate made by a BBC programme in 2001 of the number of people in receipt of long-term prescriptions.
The 1.1m figure provided within the briefing to Gillian Merron, was a misquotation of the 1.5m figure.
As the reports make clear, there are clinically appropriate reasons why a patient may be on a long-term prescription for these medicines. Whilst long-term prescription increases the likelihood of dependence, the reports published on 11 May indicate that this is not inevitable. Taking these two factors into account, an estimate of the number of people in receipt of long-term prescriptions is not equivalent to the number of people addicted to such medicine.
The reports provide both a national and local picture of what is happening in the community and information on what can be done to address addiction to painkillers and tranquillisers. Now that the reports are published, the Department will be engaging widely with stakeholders to discuss future actions.
If you have any queries about this response, please contact me quoting the reference number above in any future correspondence.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to:
Head of the Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health
Room 317
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NS
Email: freedomofinformation@dh.gsi.gov.uk
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Department. The ICO can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Deepa Shah
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health