Requests for Diazepam for Procedures and Dental Appointments

We do not prescribe diazepam for patients having MRI scans, other investigative procedures or dental appointments. We have a duty of care to provide safe, consistent, and appropriate care for our patients. We have outlined our reasons for this below: 

• Small doses of benzodiazepines such at 2mg diazepam are probably sub-therapeutic for most adults for any effective sedation. Conversely anxiolytics can have an idiosyncratic response in patients, and even very small doses can cause increased agitation in some subsets of patients.
• A patient may take a sedative ‘an hour’ before their assumed procedure, to then attend the hospital/dentist to find their procedure has been delayed, therefore the timing of the anxiolytic being sub optimal.
• GPs are not regularly involved, skilled, trained or appraised in sedation skills.
• All hospital doctors, both those requesting imaging and those providing it, as well as dentists have access to the same prescribing abilities as GPs. If a patient needs a certain medication to enable an investigation to go ahead, they are just as well positioned to provide a prescription, either through the hospital pharmacy or an FP10 prescription.

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