News / Don’t waste medicine
NHS SHETLAND has joined a campaign by four northern health boards to reduce the amount of wasted medicine.
Figures from across Scotland suggest that an estimated £44 million worth of medicines remain unused every year and that 40 to 50 per cent of patients do not use medicines as prescribed.
The campaign by GPs and pharmacists within Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles and Grampian health board areas aims to raise awareness of this waste among both patients and carers.
Director of pharmacy at NHS Shetland, Chris Nicolson, said: “Everyone involved in prescribing, dispensing or reviewing medicines needs to make sure that patients are involved in making decisions about their treatment and that more medicines are taken as recommended.
“Unwanted drugs in the home may mean that patients are not getting the benefit they could be from their medicines. It also represents a large amount of waste.
“We want patients on repeat prescriptions to think about what they are ordering and only ask for what they need and are running out of.
“Any other medicines can be dispensed when needed at a later date, as once medicines have been dispensed, they cannot be recycled.”
Campaign organisers said that the £44 million wasted every year could potentially pay for;
•1,724 more community nurses
•2,904 more drug treatment courses for breast cancer
•44,000 more drug treatment courses for Alzheimers disease
•11,866 more hip replacements
•5,349 more heart bypass operations
Further information can be found at www.medicinewastescotland.com
.uk
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