The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Incident benzodiazepine prescriptions in primary care for anxiety decreased between 2003 and 2018. However, from 2008, incident prescribing of benzodiazepines for anxiety increased among those aged 18-34 years. There are increasing concerns around prescribing of benzodiazepines. Further, although guidelines state benzodiazepines should only be prescribed short term, in 2017, 44% of incident prescriptions were prescribed for longer than the recommended duration of 2-4 weeks. ⋯ Patient-driven factors for prescribing benzodiazepines suggest there are current unmet treatment needs among young adults with anxiety. Given increases in prescribing in this age group, it may be timely to revisit the role of benzodiazepines in the management of people with anxiety in primary care.
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Following the 2019 NHS Long-Term Plan, link workers (LWs) have been employed across primary care in England to deliver social prescribing (SP). ⋯ SP was introduced into primary care to promote greater attention to the full range of factors affecting patients' health and well-being, beyond biomedicine. For that to happen, our analysis highlights the need for a whole system approach to defining, delivering and maintaining this new part of practice.