‘SMMGP has published guidance for using benzodiazepines and benzo-like drugs in primary care. It’s a comprehensive 60+ page document which covers most (but not all) of the bases and reinforces the need for caution when prescribing the drugs.
The guidance is so long in coming because consensus could not be reached. Benzo prescribing is an issue where people have strong views.
The guidance sets out a major problem: that current prescribing guidance is that these drugs should not be used for more than 2-4 weeks, but in practice this is widely flouted with over one million people on these in the long term.
As I say the document is comprehensive, so I’ve just picked out a few nuggets here.
