Tuesday, 09 July 2024

Why GLMC no longer prescribes Benzodiazepines for sedation for scans

GLMC has reviewed benzodiazepine prescribing at a practice meeting 06.06.2024 and devised a new policy not to prescribe sedative medications such as diazepam in patient who for use for scans or dental procedures. The reasons for this decision are below:

 

1. Small doses of benzodiazepines are unlikely to cause effective sedation in most adult patients but may cause an increase in agitation/aggression.
2. If procedure is delayed and has been issued to take an hour before procedure, then again medication is unlikely to be helpful.
3. Often these scans are being arranged by hospital doctors who can prescribe medication if felt to be appropriate.
4. The Royal College of Radiologists ‘own guidelines on sedation for imaging makes no mention of GP involvement or provision of low dose anxiolytics and stresses the importance of experienced well-trained staff involved and the monitoring of sedated patients:

https://www.rcr.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publication/Safe_Sedation.pdf

You may wish to discuss this with your radiologist or consultant regarding the next steps.