West Glasgow CHCP Repeat Prescribing Campaign
In NHSGG&C an estimated £24 million of medication is
returned to pharmacies and doctors every year.
This money could have paid for
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4,000 Hip replacements
3,158 Heart by-pass operations
620 Physiotherapists
622 Community nurses
4,000 Knee replacements
Working together patients, carers, surgeries and pharmacists can reduce unnecessary
waste of medicines.
Common reasons for medicine waste and how to avoid them.
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Patients recover and no longer need to take a medicine which is not taken off the repeat slip so keeps being ordered.
Acute (time-limited) medicines are put on the repeat prescription record so keep being ordered.
Seasonal medicine is ordered with other repeat medicines all year e.g. antihistamines for hay fever.
You do not need to order everything on the repeat slip.
Only tick the items you really need. If you need the item in the future you can still request it.
It is important your doctor knows if you are not taking your medicines as prescribed. If you are unhappy about taking a
medicine, tell your doctor or pharmacist. You need to discuss options.
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Some patients tend to stockpile “just in case” by re-ordering repeat medication that they do not yet need.
Supply problems are very rare. Pharmacies usually have deliveries of stock twice a day. If they run out of a medicine in the morning
they will probably have it for the afternoon.
If you run out of a regular medicine your community pharmacist can usually provide an “emergency supply” until your prescription is
ready.
Uneven quantities (e.g. 28 day and 30 day packs) of medicines can build up “extra” doses over time.
Please speak to your surgery if you have to keep ordering medicines at odd or inconvenient times, so they can change the quantities.
There will always be some unused medicines due to patient recovery, changes in patient condition, side effects.
By ordering only what you really need unnecessary waste will be reduced.
It is dangerous to have excess medicine in the home.
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Building up large quantities of medicines can make it difficult to store them all safely out of reach of children.
Having too many packs of any medicine makes it difficult to use them in the correct order so some can go out of date.
Patients can get muddled and by mistake take too much of a medicine especially if the same medicines are in different packaging.
Safe destruction of medicines.
The only safe way to get rid of unused, unwanted or out of date medicines is to
return them to the pharmacy for incineration.
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Flushing them down the toilet pollutes the water supply.
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Putting them in the bin is dangerous-children and animals can get hold of them.
How you can help.
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Only order what you need.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are not taking a medicine
If you are no longer taking a medicine do not order it
Check with your pharmacist or surgery before a medicine is dispensed if you think it might not be needed.
Repeat medicines need to be checked from time to time to make sure that they are all still suitable for you.
If you are invited for a medicine review by your surgery or pharmacy please attend.
If a medicine is unsuitable due to side effects talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
Take old, out of date and discontinued medicines to your pharmacy for safe destruction.
Working together patients, carers, surgeries and pharmacies can
reduce unnecessary waste of medicines.