Hundreds of vulnerable people with drug and alcohol dependencies who have been prescribed Valium are set to have their cases reviewed following an Ombudsman investigation.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Change Grow Live (CGL), on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council, has been prescribing benzodiazepines against national guidance.
Benzodiazepines – including diazepam (Valium) – are a class of medicines that can relieve symptoms of anxiety. However, if they are prescribed for too long, the patient can become addicted.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found that CGL, which has 343 clients who are on long-term prescriptions, were either not reviewing people’s prescriptions regularly enough or not keeping proper records of those reviews.
The charity has started an audit focusing on benzodiazepine prescribing across the country.
A CGL spokesperson said: ‘As the main provider of drug and alcohol misuse treatment across Cambridgeshire, we are committed to providing the highest level of care to our service users. To that end, we recognise the findings in this report and have agreed to all of the recommendations.’
Cllr Richard Howitt, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Adults and Health Committee, said: ‘As the commissioner of services from Change Grow Live, we fully accept the Ombudsman’s findings. We are already working with CGL to ensure their processes and policies are comprehensive and in line with updated national guidance. We will also be undertaking regular audits of their services, which will be part of the ongoing monitoring by the county council.’
