Wasted medicines cost the NHS “upwards of £480 million” last year, analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has revealed.
The analysis was produced from Freedom of Information requests from local NHS Integrated Care Boards.
As well as the monetary cost, the NPA said “wasting medicines also has a significant environmental impact, with the disposal and production of medicines having a large carbon footprint.”
Read more: ‘Cannot go on’: Three-quarters of English pharmacies losing money
“Pharmacies have reported to the NPA that patients regularly return uncompleted courses or unopened boxes of medicines. This is particularly common for patients on complex medicine regimes to treat their conditions,” the NPA said.
It also noted reports of patients over-ordering on medicines “just in case it is needed rather than it being necessary at the time”.
“Medicines must be disposed of in a specialist manner which comes at a significant cost to the NHS,” the NPA said. “Once a medicine is dispensed and handed out to a patient, even if is unopened and its seal intact, it cannot be put back into stock when returned.”
Read more: Pharmacy pollution – new project aims to tackle medicine waste
NPA chair Olivier Picard said, “we are urging patients only to request medicines if they really need them when ordering repeat prescriptions.”
He added that “patients who are prescribed multiple medicines” should have them “more regularly reviewed to ensure they are being fully utilised”.
“If a patient has any concerns about their medicines, they should speak to their pharmacist who can help them get the most out of their medicines,” he said.
Read more: Funding and IT ‘critical bottlenecks’ to IP rollout, NPA report warns
Superintendent pharmacist at Pharmacy2U Phil Day said pharmacists have “an important role to play in giving patients confidence in their medicines”.
“If someone is regularly left with unused medicines, unsure whether they still need a particular treatment or is concerned about keeping their prescriptions in sync, a simple conversation with their pharmacist will help,” he said.
Read more: ‘This isn’t temporary’: NPA warns of ‘spiralling’ drug costs
It comes after a CPE survey released in July revealed that three quarters of community pharmacies across England are losing money.
And it follows a £1.19 grant being awarded in May to a project aiming to reduce the environmental impact of a discarded medicine.
