Pharmacists are helping to clamp down on medicines waste by backing campaigns that could save the NHS £7.6 million in unnecessary bills.

More than 78 pharmacies in the Scottish Highlands are handing out leaflets and talking to patients during their chronic medicine reviews (CMR) in a two-month campaign, launched last week by NHS Highlands, to save £3m on the disposal of unused medicines.

Pharmacists in Northamptonshire are also encouraging patients to reduce their medicines waste in a similar campaign, launched by NHS Nene CCG and NHS Corby CCG earlier this month to tackle the problem, which commissioners say is costing the local NHS £4.6m a year.

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	Four pharmacies, in Kettering, Finedon, Northampton and Daventry, are displaying banners and advising patients about ordering repeat prescriptions during MURs. The CCGs were also providing training resources on their websites to help pharmacists communicate the message to their patients.

NHS Nene CCG and NHS Corby CCG head of prescribing and medicines management Sue Smith said she was aiming to cut medicine waste in the area by 10 per cent.

"All of this wastes millions of pounds," she said. "But that cost can be counted in human terms too, given the healthcare that this money could have been spent on, but also the health benefits that people may not be getting because they are not taking their medicines as intended."

"Nobody loses through reducing waste medicines and everybody gains," Ms Smith added.

Nene CCG claimed that the cost of medicines waste to the NHS over a year in Northamptonshire could pay for 4,780 cataract operations and 600 heart surgeries.

Stakeholders in Northamptonshire, including community pharmacists, GPs and prescription clerks, devised the campaign during a meeting in November.  

The Scottish Liberal Democrats called for more action on preventing medicine waste in January, after it revealed that the disposal of unused drugs that have been returned to pharmacies is costing Scotland's NHS half a million pounds a year.