Change the NICE guidelines

In alignment with the Practise Hope initiative to improve the help and support children and young people who are thinking of suicide or self-harming receive, Olly’s Future has been campaigning for changes in the administering of anti-depressants, particularly in young people.

Olly Hare was prescribed Citalopram for the first time over the phone by a doctor who he had never met. He was told to pick up the medication at the in-house pharmacy. After just four days of taking this SSRI, he took his own life.

There is NO NICE guideline that requires the prescribing of anti-depressants to first-time patients to be done face to face.

Olly’s Future is calling for 

• A NICE guideline which requires all first time patients of anti-depressants to be seen by a GP (via mobile or PC, if not in person) and for them to agree a Safety Plan together for taking this medication, including the involvement of a  trusted adult who can support them.
• A label on the anti-depressant pack warning of the risk to under 25s, in particular, of possible suicidal ideation.

These are small but necessary steps towards reducing the number of suicides in the UK.