The Department of Health estimates that unused or partially used medication costs the NHS a whopping £300m a year.  The latest report indicates that £110m worth of medication is returned to pharmacies, £90m ends up being stored at home and £50m ends up being disposed of by care homes.  It’s a growing problem in the UK and a worrying one, especially when you consider how that money could be used to provide critical front line care and other services to communities across the country.  With the government responding to the recession by delivering cuts to all services, as well as the NHS, anything that can be done to claw back some of the fast dwindling funds simply has to be done.

The South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula Clinical Commissioning Group and their Meds Management team have launched a campaign to tackle the problem within their local area where £1.5m worth of medicines is wasted every year.

With activity planned in July and again in September, the campaign is running in a combination of 35 Boots and Independent Pharmacies within their local catchment area using Pharmacy Bags to drive the message home to the local community.

*Information courtesy of www.medicinewaste.com.