Up to 1,800 elderly dementia patients are dying each year from wrongly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, a Government report has found.

Around 144,000 elderly people are wrongly prescribed the drugs

Only around 36,000 of the 180,000 people currently on the drugs in the UK need them, the report said, leaving 144,000 people taking them unnecessarily.

Anti-psychotic medicines are licensed to treat people with schizophrenia and are used off-licence for dementia patients in care homes and hospitals.

In his review, Sube Banerjee, professor of mental health and ageing at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said the rate of use of anti-psychotic drugs could be cut to one third of its current level with appropriate action.

He said this could be done safely over three years.

Care services minister Phil Hope has promised to crack down on the practice, including appointing a new national clinical director for dementia.

He also promised measures to ensure more use of psychological therapies rather than relying on drugs.

There are around 700,000 people with dementia in the UK. That figure is expected to soar in the coming decades as life expectancy lengthens.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "It's critical that the dangers of wrongly prescribed anti-psychotics are understood and Government action is taken to prevent putting more people at risk.

"Alzheimer's Research Trust scientists at the Institute of Psychiatry are investigating alternative safer means of reducing agitation among dementia patients.

"We must urgently develop safe and effective treatments for people with dementia.

"Unless researchers develop new treatments, within a generation 1.4 million people will live with dementia in the UK alone."