Charity working on behalf of council prescribed vulnerable people with Valium long-term against national guidance, finds Ombudsman

An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Change Grow Live (CGL), on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council, has been prescribing benzodiazepines to people long-term, against national guidance.

Following the investigation, “hundreds of people” across England with drug and alcohol dependencies who have been prescribed Valium long-term will have their cases reviewed.

Benzodiazepines – including diazepam (Valium) - are a class of medicines that can relieve nervousness, tension and other symptoms of anxiety and should usually only be prescribed short-term, said the Ombudsman.

Change Grow Live’s policy explains people use them for “anxiety, insomnia, to enhance opiate effects, to deal with mental health issues, improve confidence and to reduce psychotic symptoms like hearing voices”.

However, if they are prescribed for too long, they can have significant negative effects including dependence, withdrawal symptoms and drug-seeking behaviour, the report notes.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that “CGL were either not reviewing people’s prescriptions regularly enough or not keeping proper records of those reviews”.

The company also provides drug and alcohol services for 50 other councils.

To remedy the injustice caused, CGL and Cambridgeshire County Council have agreed to provide the Ombudsman with a report of the national clinical audit CGL is currently doing.

The council has also agreed to “ensure CGL improves record keeping, updates its policy to include recent guidance from NHS England and completes yearly audits of Cambridgeshire CGL clients who are on long-term prescriptions of benzodiazepines”.

Nigel Ellis, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Chief Executive, said: “Clinicians need to weigh up the benefits and risks for patients who are taking these medicines long-term and should have a clear rationale for continuing to prescribe.

“I am pleased that patients in these vulnerable groups will now have their cases reviewed more regularly and comprehensively following my investigation.

“Both CGL and the council have co-operated fully with our investigation, and I welcome their ready acceptance of our recommendations.”

Across the country, CGL has 343 clients who are on long-term prescriptions.

Its medical director has since started a national clinical audit focusing on benzodiazepine prescribing across the country, revealed the Ombudsman.

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.”

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. Since we were given sight of this report, we have been working closely with Cambridgeshire County Council as we seek to improve the service and will continue to do, so we are able to ensure the ongoing review of the procedures and processes used by our teams. As an additional step, our team is also working with the Local Government Social Care Ombudsman to provide a national clinical audit into other Change Grow Live services and Councils prescribing long-term benzodiazepines.”

Lottie Winson