GPs face new restrictions on the prescribing of psychotropic medications, with the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety describing the aged-care system as “cruel and harmful”.

The commission’s 770-page interim report, Neglect, documents the damage done to the lives of thousands of patients who have been through the system and suggests that the best option for many would be to stay out of residential facilities altogether.

The commissioners called for a massive increase in funding for high-need home care and action to get 6000 young people with disabilities out of nursing homes.

But to ensure best-practice treatment for those in residential care, urgent action was needed to reduce the use of physical and chemical restraints, they said.