Those Forgotten Drugs People who have prescription medicine lying unused in their bathroom cabinets can return them in an amnesty in Coventry next week. Repeat prescriptions make up three-quarters of all prescriptions issued and take up ten per cent of all spending in the NHS, but the drugs often get tucked away and are unused. A fifth of all prescriptions are returned to pharmacies unopened. A special amnesty has now been launched to try and raise people s awareness of the problem.
People are to be given the chance to turn all unwanted medicines to safe-keeping.
Leaflets explaining the campaign will be available from pharmacies in the city. If successful, the campaign could save the NHS a small fortune in unnecessarily prescribed drugs. Current estimates are that 52 million a year is wasted nationally on over-prescription. We want to ensure that patients always get the medicines they need but we also want to reduce local drug wastage so that we can redirect some more funds into our local health service. It is crucial that patients and carers do their bit to help the NHS to help them.