Unused prescription medication

Primrose53 I’m amazed that the stoma nurse was unaware of charities who will be happy to take donations of unused stoma equipment. Some, (Jacobs Well) would even collect them.
They are sent to poorer countries who have to pay for them. It’s a shame that we can’t reuse unopened medication.

Germanshepherdsmum

I take 7 medications. I only order what I need each month and if I order too early my surgery is on the case immediately. It’s disgraceful that people hoard drugs as the OP describes. It could be prevented, as my GP’s system - a bit like the Spanish Inquisition - proves. Another example of waste in the NHS.

That is not the fault of the NHS!

Sadly this is very common. People accept the prescription and get it dispensed and put it in cupboard, often for years. OH found that fairly regularly in his job.

It is a massive waste- and of course when returned, even if un-opened, can't be used if psbd.

My late mother was on a whole variety of meds and each one had a different renewal date. I asked in vain for them to be aligned, saving us all time and effort, but no. 8 different meds, all on separate four week renewals. This was before the surgery had online ordering so I spent a huge amount of time dropping off renewal requests then hanging around in the pharmacy waiting to collect things. So wasteful of time and effort.
Thank goodness my surgery is more realistic. I get a repeat of my meds every 2 months. If I accumulate an excess (though I admit to liking to keep a week in hand) I just order fewer tablets the next time round. It is fuss free and efficient, and reviewed annually by a practice nurse and the pharmacist.

I take 7 medications. I only order what I need each month and if I order too early my surgery is on the case immediately. It’s disgraceful that people hoard drugs as the OP describes. It could be prevented, as my GP’s system - a bit like the Spanish Inquisition - proves. Another example of waste in the NHS.

It's impossible to over order at my surgery. They are very strict about ordering.
Last month, despite ordering within the prescribed time frame, I was asked why I needed paracetamol, earlier than I would normally do.
It was to check if my pain levels were high, which they were.
Also many of my drugs are reviewd by the GP on a regular basis., so that I can't stockpile.

Our pharmacies asked that obsolete the medication is removed from the packaging to preserve anonymity.

DH has had a lot of changes to his meds recently and I had to return a big bag to the pharmacy. One lot was a mistake by the hospital when he was discharged. It seems such a waste that unopened boxes have to be destroyed.

Over the last few months I have had hospital giving me drugs and then writing to my GP telling them to prescribe the same medication.

I am dealing with it by not ordering surplus drugs the following month., but one drug I only needed to take for a month, but ended up with 2 months supply.

(Although I have no idea how the pharmacy disposes of them!)

My DH is sorting out his medication as I type. It's been changed so much I now have a large bin bag to return to the chemist. But few of the boxes are actually unopened.

It's far better to return them to the chemist to be disposed of sensibly rather than flush them down the loo or sink and cause problems when the chemicals reach the rivers.

My surgery certainly doesn’t over prescribe.
I have to take thyroxine. I only get one month at a time.