ANTIPSYCHOTIC drugs that could cause stroke or death are used to control dementia sufferers in some understaffed nursing homes, it has been alleged.

Queensland University psychiatry head Associate Professor Gerard Byrne said the drugs were commonly used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, mania and delusional disorders.

He said the drugs were widely used in nursing homes, but sometimes for the wrong reasons.

Associate Professor Byrne, who is also director of the Older Persons Mental Health Service at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, said the drugs were used to control unruly dementia sufferers whose symptoms often included aggression, agitation, delusions and hallucinations.

The drugs were considered high risk for people with a history of heart problems, stroke and high blood pressure but were appropriate in some circumstances, he said.

"Some people with dementia complicated by psychotic symptoms [delusions and hallucinations], marked agitation and physical aggression need to be treated with low-dose antipsychotic medication for their own safety and the safety of others," Associate Professor Byrne said.

"However, antipsychotic medication does not seem to be effective in people with dementia who wander or who call out repeatedly."

About 40,000 Queenslanders are among the estimated 200,000 Australians suffering from dementia.

Associate Professor Byrne said dementia sufferers usually struggled to articulate pain or discomfort and their bad behaviour could be due to health problems including urinary tract or chest infections.

Residential aged-care facilities needed better staff-patient ratios and more registered nurses and clinical psychologists to reduce the reliance on antipsychotic drugs, he said.

The environments in which people with dementia were cared for had an important influence on their behaviour.

Patients needed diversions and recreational activities.

"We also need the state and the Commonwealth governments to collaborate in the development of specialised psychogeriatric nursing homes that are specifically designed and staffed to manage people with dementia . . . who cannot be safely managed in conventional nursing homes or in acute hospitals."

Associate Professor Byrne said Victoria and NSW already had such nursing homes but there were none in Queensland.

Federal Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot said the Government took seriously any allegation relating to medication mismanagement of dementia sufferers in nursing homes.

"The concept of gratuitous or uncalled for chemical restraint is abhorrent," she said.

It was an offence to knowingly over-medicate or misuse prescribed medications, which must be given in accordance with the instructions of the treating doctor, she said.

Source: Brisbane Times - The Sun-Herald - Kate Dennehy