The news comes after it became increasingly likely that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) will advise against the prescription of Prozac, the only modern generation anti-depressant singled out by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) as safe for use in children.
Professor Sue Bailey, chair of the Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said psychiatrists had an increasingly heavy workload following government measures advising GPs against prescribing the drugs themselves.
She said GPs needed to be able to assess if medication was the best option for a patient and warranted referral to a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) team.
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