Wasted or unused medicines is a serious and growing problem within the NHS. It is estimated that as much as £300 million is wasted every year on unused or partially used medication.
Wasted medicines is everyone’s responsibility and there are small changes you can make to help reduce the amount of medicine being wasted.
- Only order the medicines that you need – check what medicines you have at home before re-ordering. Only tick the boxes on your repeat prescription forms for medicines that you need
- Remember that unused medicines cannot be recycled – even if you never open them, once medicines have left the pharmacy, they cannot be recycled or used by anyone else
- Check your medicines before you leave the pharmacy – open your prescription bag while you are still in the pharmacy; you can return any unwanted medicines to the pharmacist
- Unused medicines are a safety risk – return unused or out of date medicines to your local pharmacy for safe disposal
If you would like more information about reducing medicines waste, please contact mseicb.enquiries@nhs.net