Patients often ask if sedatives can be prescribed before radiological procedures (e.g., CT or MRI scans). It is important to note that it is NOT safe for GP practices to prescribe sedatives for these purposes.
Sedation and analgesia should only be provided by a trained and credentialed team that has access to anaesthetics, pre-procedure assessment, a sedation plan and checklist, appropriate monitoring, and resuscitation equipment, along with reversal agents.
Patient Monitoring: Sedated patients should be monitored regularly. There have been instances where a sedative prescribed by a GP was not followed by proper monitoring, leading to severe consequences such as respiratory arrest in an MRI machine.
Practices are not required to prescribe sedatives, and there are several key points to consider:
The Royal College of Radiologists makes no mention of GP involvement in the provision of low-dose anxiolytics. The College stresses the importance of well-trained staff and proper patient monitoring, as detailed in their guidelines:
“Safe and effective analgesia and sedation should be delivered by an appropriately trained and credentialed team with good access to anaesthetics, pre-procedure assessment, sedation plan and checklist, with appropriate monitoring and availability of resuscitation equipment and reversal agents.”
To avoid situations where patients are inadequately sedated or unmonitored, particularly when the sedation provided by general practice is not known to the procedure team, we decline all requests for sedative prescriptions, even if the hospital suggests doing so. When making a referral for imaging, it may be helpful to indicate on the referral form that an assessment for additional support during the procedure by the radiology team may be beneficial.