Repeat Prescriptions

People with repeat prescriptions in Coventry and Warwickshire are being asked to check what medication they have at home and to ‘only order what they need’ when they place their next order.

It is estimated that approximately 1.6 million items of medicine are wasted unnecessarily in Coventry and Warwickshire each year, which equates to around £13.3m. The NHS are asking people to help reduce this number by taking some simple steps:

1. Check what medicines you have at home before you order your repeat prescription and only order what you need – you will still be able to order other items again in future.
2. Check your bag before you leave the pharmacy – if there any items that shouldn’t be in there then these can be reused providing it is returned before you leave the pharmacy.
3. Speak with your pharmacist if you have stopped taking any medication or they are no longer right for you.

Doing any of these things will help reduce medicines waste, allow money to be used more effectively by the NHS and reduce the impact on the environment too.

It’s not just the health service that will benefit, checking medication before ordering can help people:

• Stay well – Unused medicines expire and might not work as we want them to. Keeping big stocks of medicines at home can also make drug shortages worse.
• Stay safe – Having big stocks of medicines at home be a danger to pets and children. People are also being reminded that medicines are only prescribed for them and should not be shared.
• Stay green – The best way to manage medicines waste is to give them to a pharmacist, this stops them polluting rivers and waterways. Medicines also cannot be recycled or used by anyone else once they have left the pharmacy.

Find out more about ordering only what you need