It is estimated that £2 million of prescription drugs are going to waste in Calderdale every year.
According to the National Audit Office, that figure rises to £800 million across the country.
If everyone has got their sums right these are simply staggering amounts.
Steps are now being taken to address this issue by a local triumvarate incl
uding Calderdale Primary Care Trust, GPs and pharmacists. "Wasted medicine means wasted money," says Julie Landale, the Primary Care Trust's head of medicine managment.
She is not wrong.
Much of the waste comes in the form of repeat prescriptions where patients begin to stockpile medicine they may no longer need in quantity. These people will be the main target of this campaign. While they must be educated, they are surely not the only ones culpable in this extraordinary story.
Doctors issue repeat prescriptions, pharmacists dispense the drugs. Each has a duty to make certain people are getting the right drugs at the right time.
The system in place is clearly lacking and needs tightening up considerably. Greater care must be taken to keep track of these repeat prescriptions. A more regular review of patient's needs would see to that.
It is not possible to calculate the real cost to the NHS, only to say that there are obviously substantial amounts.
Meanwhile, the notion that so many unused pills and potions are out there, remains deeply unsettling to say the least.
The full article contains 243 words and appears in Evening Courier newspaper.
