More than 42,000 dementia patients were prescribed with anti-psychotic medication over a six week period this autumn, according to new figures released by NHS Digital.
It is the first time that anti-psychotic medication prescription data have been released.
It revealed that 42,991 people (9.4%) out of the 458,461 on the dementia register in England were given the medication in the six weeks to November.
GPs in the Midlands and East of England recorded the highest number, with 15,309 patients out of the 143,114 on the dementia register getting anti-psychotic medicine prescriptions.
NHS Digital also revealed that recorded prevalence has increased from 0.77 the previous year to 0.78 in November, with one in 128 people diagnosed with the condition.
The data included information from 7,185 practices.
It said that there are an estimated 645,783 people in England with dementia and 68% of them have a recorded diagnosis.
NHS Ashford CCG recorded the lowest number of prescriptions, with 27 cases, out of 955 patients on the register.
The highest number were prescribed by NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG where 893 patients from the 8,404 on the dementia register received the medication.
No ethnicity details were recorded for nearly three quarters of patients.
NHS Digital is also recording the number of patients with and without psychosis who have been prescribed the anti-psychotic medication. This data is available on request.
Doctors delivered 37,684 assessments in October 2017 and arranged 282,573 care plans.
