please return ANY un-used medicines back to the Pharmacy

Presumably you mean Yes to pee, poo & paper and No to anything else?

That made me laugh argymargy- I now envisage infoman’s toilet in pride of place, garlanded with flowers!

Just to mention that our pharmacy refused to take late DH's cancer medicines, as they were highly toxic; they had to be returned to the hospital.

It does seem such a waste when unopened medicines have to be binned.

Our Boots pharmacy adjacent to the GP surgery is a tiny little building, space wise woefully inadequate for the number of patients it deals with. Three people waiting makes it full.

Always looks cluttered up with boxes waiting to be unpacked, and buckets full of used batteries waiting to be sent away, they never seem to go anywhere.

Goodness knows where all the unused medicines are put.

I wonder how the pharmacists dispose of the medicines.

My local pharmacy hardly takes any medications, even the ones it doles out! Have to save it in a cupboard for when anyone in the family has a hospital appointment, then we always forget!

It needs to be made easier to dispose of unused medication, because otherwise people will just put it in the ordinary rubbish/loo.

Pharmacies don't take all unused medications. Even the provider, who delivered my toxic injections, prescribed by the hospital, were reluctant to dispose of them.
It's not as simple as you think, Infoman.

Remember the three "P's"
No to Pee, poo,and paper

What do you recommend?

Our local pharmacy has done this for years. The other thing is to also take part used or empty inhalers and not put them in your recycling bin.

Why do people stockpile medications in the first place? Surely it's easy enough not to tick the box on the repeat medications form (whether paper or online).

growstuff

Why do people stockpile medications in the first place? Surely it's easy enough not to tick the box on the repeat medications form (whether paper or online).

I have a history of becoming intolerant of certain medications, after taking them for some time, hence the stockpile of injections, I have no way of knowing, what will happen. I am sure that I am not the only person this happens too.
I had a serious reaction and a heart attack after taking only ONE pill.
Disposing of them responsibly is notvalways easy.

dragonfly46

I wonder how the pharmacists dispose of the medicines.

This explains it.
Basically they are audited by the pharmacist then collected by a waste company and incinerated (at NHS expense).
cpe.org.uk/national-pharmacy-services/essential-services/disposal-of-unwanted-medicines/#:~:text=NHS%20England%20must%20make%20arrangements,they%20will%20pay%20for%20that.

I don’t think people stockpile meds deliberately.
Yesterday I picked up my 3 month supply of meds.
I could die tomorrow, who knows 🤷‍♀️

petra

I don’t think people stockpile meds deliberately.
Yesterday I picked up my 3 month supply of meds.
I could die tomorrow, who knows 🤷‍♀️

I hope not!!

My husband has had his medication changed on several occasions, meaning the previous ones became redundant. It's not always a question of people stockpiling or hoarding them.

Marydoll

growstuff

Why do people stockpile medications in the first place? Surely it's easy enough not to tick the box on the repeat medications form (whether paper or online).

I have a history of becoming intolerant of certain medications, after taking them for some time, hence the stockpile of injections, I have no way of knowing, what will happen. I am sure that I am not the only person this happens too.
I had a serious reaction and a heart attack after taking only ONE pill.
Disposing of them responsibly is notvalways easy.

But surely that doesn't mean having more than a month's supply. Some people report having multiple bags of medications for disposal.

petra

I don’t think people stockpile meds deliberately.
Yesterday I picked up my 3 month supply of meds.
I could die tomorrow, who knows 🤷‍♀️

My ICS won't authorise more than one month's supply - I hadn't realised that some allow more. Maybe that should be stopped.

I agree that proper disposal of unwanted medicines is important, but do people commonly flush pills down the loo?
It has never occurred to me to do that.

MissInterpreted

My husband has had his medication changed on several occasions, meaning the previous ones became redundant. It's not always a question of people stockpiling or hoarding them.

Yes, I've had medications changed, but I've never had more than a couple of weeks unused.

RosiesMaw2

^Remember the three "P's"^
No to Pee, poo,and paper

What do you recommend?

A specially dug corner of the garden perhaps.

Indigo8

RosiesMaw2

Remember the three "P's"
No to Pee, poo,and paper

What do you recommend?

A specially dug corner of the garden perhaps.

Thats what you call, well fertilised soil. The roses 🌹 must be blooming.

My husband had a number of his meds changed. He was on about 14 items. When he died I had just collected the new lot, but still had two or three weeks supply of the previous lot.
Fortunately the pharmacist accepted them all.
Such a waste of resources though. There could surely be a ways of reusing unopened packets.

growstuff

Why do people stockpile medications in the first place? Surely it's easy enough not to tick the box on the repeat medications form (whether paper or online).

Various reasons. I knew an elderly man who never took any of the medication his GP prescribed. His friend found his spare room full of unopened bags when he died.

My Mum’s stoma nurse told us she had been to houses with £3000+ worth of unused colostomy bags which are made to measure so no use to anybody else