Help reduce medication waste and support the NHS across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Pharmacists and GPs across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are asking people to help the local NHS by only ordering the medication they need from their repeat prescriptions. 

A report by the Department of Health estimates that unused medicines cost the NHS around £300 million every year. A large amount of medicine items are wasted unnecessarily in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent each year. We need your help to reduce this.  

Dr Rachel Gallyot, Interim Chief Medical Officer, said: 

“We want to remind you how important it is to check what medicines you have at home before placing your repeat prescription order. 

We know that a significant amount of repeat prescription medicines are not used and returned to pharmacies for destruction. With your support, we hope that we can make a difference and improve on the number of unused medicines. 

We have learned that ordering unnecessary medication can increase the risk of medicines shortages in pharmacies and we want to make sure essential medications are available to those who need them the most. We want people to have the right medicine and the right care, while reducing the amount of medicine waste. Thank you to the many people who already do this.” 

Dr Gallyot shares some tips on how everyone can to do this: 

• Only order the medication if you need it – repeat items still remain on your prescription, even if you don’t order them every month
• Try keeping all medication in one safe place at home, so you can see what you have left and what you need to reorder • For each prescription, take medication from one pill packet at a time, so that you can keep a track of what you’ve taken and what you have left
• Make a note on your calendar 7 to 10 days before your prescription due date, to go through your medication and see what is left.  Being organised in this way means that if bank holidays or weekends are coming up, you will have planned enough for these dates too
• If a friend, carer or family member orders your repeat prescription for you, make sure to tell them which medications you need and what you don’t need. This will mean they aren’t ordering medications that you don’t yet need. 

It can be challenging organising medication, particularly if you need to take a lot of medication or you support someone to take their medication, but it is safer to organise and manage medication in this way. 

If you have questions about your prescription or need some support, speak to your pharmacy team. Unused or out of date medicines and inhalers should always be returned to your pharmacy for safe disposal.