The Department of Health has launched a strategy to limit the use of benzodiazepines, especially for the elderly and women

The Department of Health of the Basque Government and Osakidetza have launched the 'Benzodiazepine Good Use Strategy' to limit the prolonged consumption of sleeping pills and tranquilizers, especially in people over 70 years of age and women, who use them most.

Among these people with the highest prevalence of consumption, emotional well-being and sleep hygiene education will be promoted, and early identification of incidents will be worked to prevent situations from becoming pathological.

In short, it is a question of promoting non-pharmacological measures and creating a "cultural change" in the system to make it more preventive and sustainable, as reported by the Department of Health and Osakidetza.

The strategy is based on five pillars : the first is aimed at ensuring that all professionals have a unified view of this issue; the second is to conduct patient education campaigns; and the third is to introduce systems to facilitate the review of prescriptions in the medical history.

The Boards of Directors shall also be established to examine the evolution of consumption and the effectiveness of such activities, and measures shall be taken to ensure that such improvements to the prescription are maintained in the long term.

All of this will be done through specific actions, such as personalized prescribing instructions; improving the electronic prescription system to alert in cases where a treatment exceeds the recommended weeks; organizing workshops for patients; and creating protocols for "gradual decryption."

The priority group of the strategy is people over the age of 70 and, in particular, women within this group, who are the ones who consume the most tranquilizers, sleeping pills, antidepressants or other psychopaths, as recalled by the Health Adviser, Alberto Martínez, at a hearing in the Basque Parliament.

In fact, fromthe age of 65, one in three women take this type of medication daily, and 40.3% have an active prescription (20.8% for men), and in many cases the recommended period is significantly exceeded: 4 weeks in cases of insomnia and 12 weeks in cases of anxiety.

Extending deadlines creates tolerance and dependence and increases the risk of serious adverse effects such as falls, fractures, traffic accidents and cognitive impairment.

For this reason, the Counsellor has advocated a review of the chronic use of psychopaths, "periodically evaluating treatments and , where possible, encouraging gradual reduction. "In addition, in order to prescribe psychopaths to a patient, she recommends that it be systematic to ask about alcohol consumption in order to monitor the simultaneous consumption of both substances. 

Another line of action to limit the use of psychopaths is toaddress insomnia, anxiety and emotional discomfort through "non-pharmacological interventions", as well as to provide psychological support, physical activity appropriate to that age or community resources.

During his speech in Parliament at the request of EH Bildu, the Councillor took stock of the Basque Country's Addiction Plan 2023-2027, when it reached its equator.

Among the topics to be improved, the Chief Executive has cited the trends in caring for people with addictions because the current mental health network "is not homogeneous" and it may be that "a person does not have an easy transition from one resource to another at a given time." "We recognize that we have this handicap and we have to work on it," he said.