Prescriptions for psychotropic drugs, including those sometimes referred to as the "chemical cosh", soar amongst elderly people who are admitted to residential care homes, a new study shows.

The study, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, looks at the prescribing of drugs to calm anxiety and sedate, as well as the antipsychotics which are supposed to be prescribed for severe mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and only for dementia as a last resort.