08.05.15
CCG urges patients to reduce medicine waste
A CCG in Manchester is urging patients not to order unwanted prescriptions from pharmacies as the money saved could fund 41 extra nurses or a number of patient treatments.
The campaign has been launched by Central Manchester CCG in an effort to reduce the amount of wasted medicines, which cost the local NHS about £1m a year.
Doctors from the CCG say the wasted money could pay for 41 nurses, 69 drug treatments for breast cancer, 1,051 more drug treatment courses for Alzheimer’s, 283 hip replacements or 128 more heart bypass operations.
Dr Connie Chen, prescribing lead for the group, said: “We’re appealing to patients on repeat prescriptions to think about what they order and only ask for what they need.
“This will mean more money can be spent on treating illnesses such as cancer and heart disease instead of being wasted on unused and unwanted medicines.
“People may not realise that, once medicines have been dispensed, they cannot be re-used and they are then destroyed.”
The campaign calls for patients to only order what they need, return their unwanted medicines to their pharmacy for safe disposal and take their medicines with them when they go into hospital.
Nationally wasted drugs cost the health service around £300m a year. Medicines worth £110m are being returned to pharmacies, while others worth £90m are being stored in people’s homes. Another £50m worth of medicines is being disposed of by care homes.
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