Wasted medication - a serious concern

When we visit patients at home we often find piles of old unused medicines, inhalers and other items. Not only does this present a hazard but it is a huge drain on the increasingly scarce NHS resources.
It is estimated that every year around £300m is wasted in unused medicines. 
This would for instance pay for 11,778 MORE community nurses or 80,906 MORE hip replacements or 19,799 MORE drug treatment courses for breast cancer or 300,000 MORE drug treatment courses for Alzheimer's or 312,175 MORE cataract operations, so it is a major problem.
How does it happen? Often with repeat prescriptions the whole lot is ordered each time, meaning over-stocking occurs, or when new medicines are started sometimes the old ones continue to be ordered. Sometimes  patients don't like to take the prescribed medicines or have side effects and stop them but are afraid to tell the doctor. Other times duplicate supplies are given in hospital without the GP knowing.
What you can do:
Only order what you need. Take back unused medicines to the pharmacy for disposal.Tell your doctor if you need to stop taking something. 

 For more information, look at this campaign: Medicine Waste

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Clinical Pharmacist joins us

Image
New Clinical Pharmacist Shaina Thakrar "I qualified from the University of Nottingham in 2014 and completed training as an Independent Prescriber in 2018, with a keen interest in diabetes. My role as a Clinical Pharmacist in the practice is a varied and expanding! I deal with prescription and medication queries, see patients for medication reviews and help with the management of long-term conditions. When I am not at work, I enjoy going to the gym and spending time with my family and friends." We welcome Shaina to this new role to help us develop our services to patients and high standard of clinical care. Pharmacists are extremely valuable at this time of increasing pharmaceutical complexity, with many new drugs being developed and patients taking more diverse mixtures of drugs as the treatments for long term conditions become ever more sophisticated. She will also be helping us with changes to medication following hospital discharges and other areas o
Read more

111 - the new 'urgent non emergency' number

Image
NHS 111 is now live in this area You should use the NHS 111 service if you urgently need medical help or advice but it's not a life-threatening situation. Call 11 1 if : you need medical help fast but it's not a 999 emergency you think you need to go to A&E or need another NHS urgent care service you don't know who to call or you don't have a GP to call you need health information or reassurance about what to do next For less urgent health needs, contact your GP or local pharmacist in the usual way. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones. How does it work? The NHS 111 service is staffed by a team of fully trained advisers, supported by experienced nurses. They will ask you questions to assess your symptoms, then give you the healthcare advice you need or direct you straightaway to the local service that can help you best. That could be A&E, an out-of-hours doctor, an ur
Read more