Spalding patients urged to save money on medicine

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Spalding and South Holland patients are being offered advice and support in a bid to save the NHS millions of pounds on wasted medicines each year.

Figures show that unfinished prescriptions and unwanted repeat prescriptions cost the NHS in Lincolnshire up to £5 million a year so a new campaign has been launched to educate medicine users about how they can help cut the bill.

GPs and pharmacists will be involved in the campaign to ensure patients only order the repeat medicines that they need each month and that any waste medicines are disposed of safely and appropriately.

A new guideline from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has highlighted that between one-third and a half of all patients do not take their medicines as prescribed by their doctor.

Some people will intentionally not take their medicines either because they believe that the medicine will not help their problem or that they are concerned about side effects.

Some patients unintentionally fail to take their medicine as prescribed, often due to the distractions of a busy lifestyle or a poor memory.

The campaign, which runs throughout February and March, will encourage patients to have regular reviews of their medicines with their pharmacist or prescribing doctor to discuss any issues they may have with their drugs.

Stephen Gibson, head of prescribing and medicines management for NHS Lincolnshire said: "Unwanted and unused medicines taken to the pharmacy or the doctors' dispensary for disposal represents a large amount of NHS money each year that could have helped Lincolnshire patients, but that will now help no-one. We estimate that we waste approximately £5M per year in Lincolnshire alone on wasted medicines."

 

Posters will be displayed inside buses and bus shelters across Lincolnshire and thousands of posters and leaflets will also be distributed to GP practices and pharmacies.

Inserts have also been produced to go into prescription bags in pharmacies or dispensing practices.