Pharmacists Say Wasted Medicine Costs NHS Millions

One important reason for the problem is a safety rule. Once a pharmacy hands a medicine to a patient, it cannot go back on the shelf, even if the box has never been opened. Unused medicine must be destroyed through a special process instead of going into normal household rubbish, and this adds another cost for the health service. Pharmacists say the waste happens partly because patients order repeat prescriptions they do not need, and partly because people stop taking a course of treatment before it is finished.

Olivier Picard, who chairs the association, said the money lost each year could be spent on better services for patients instead. He asked people to order a repeat prescription only when they are sure they will use it, and called for patients on several medicines to have their treatment checked more often. Dr Rasha Abdelsalam Elshenawy, a lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, warned that the problem is also about safety: antibiotics left at home are often taken later without medical advice, which makes infections harder to treat.