Two million Britons are taking seven different prescription drugs

Two million pensioners are taking at least seven types of prescription drugs - putting them at risk of potentially lethal side-effects, a major report warns. 

Age UK said the rise of “polypharmacy” was putting lives at risk, with three quarters likely to suffer adverse reactions to at least one of their drugs. The research found that the number of emergency hospital admissions linked to such side-effects has risen by 53 per cent in seven years, with some cases proving fatal.

Experts said GPs were doling out too many drugs because they were too busy to properly consider complex health problems, and the risk of side-effects, and interactions between different drugs. 

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, said: "We are incredibly fortunate to live at a time when there are so many effective drugs available to treat older people’s health conditions, but it’s a big potential problem if singly or in combination these drugs produce side effects that ultimately do an older person more harm than good.”

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Source: The Telegraph, 22 August 2019