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Written question asked by Cat Smith (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 January 2018, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 January 2018. It was answered by Steve Brine (Conservative) on Wednesday, 17 January 2018 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Prescription Drugs

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) hospital admissions and (b) deaths related to (i) benzodiazepines, (ii) z drugs and (ii) antidepressants there were in the last year.

Answer

In 2016-17, the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database showed the number of finished admission episodes with a primary or secondary diagnosis of benzodiazepines and antidepressants as follows:

Benzodiazepines

7,313

Z drugs (Zopiclone / Zolpidem)

not available

Antidepressants

16,108

Similar information on the number of admissions for Z drugs cannot be extracted from the HES database. The classification of admissions includes, but is not limited to, those relating to the use of Z drugs and therefore these instances cannot be isolated.

In 2016, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the following information for drug related deaths:

Benzodiazepines

406

Z drugs

94

Antidepressants

460

This information was published by the ONS on 2 August 2017 and is available online at:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsrelatedtodrugpoisoningenglandandwalesreferencetable

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
122049
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Admissions Death Hospitals Misuse Sedatives Antidepressants
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk