The front page of the Scotland on Sunday, 27 May 2018 carries the headline “Keep taking the tablets” and in its subtitle refers to the “alarming cost” of paracetamol prescriptions. Scotland on Sunday concludes that this is causing NHS Scotland “a headache”:
In reading this my mind turned to Scottish Government statistics that reveal that approximately 1 in 7 Scots are taking antidepressants. This volume of prescribing is mostly accounted for by the fact that many people “keep taking the tablets”, this despite the lack of evidence to support long term prescribing.
[the image featured at the head of this post is a composite of the Scotland on Sunday headline and an image of a packet of antidepressants]