If you have medication at home that is either out of date or that you no longer need, then please dispose of it safely:
- If the medication was dispensed to you from our dispensary, then you may return it to our dispensary and we will safely dispose of it for you.
- If the medication was dispensed to you by any another provider, then you should take it to any community pharmacy where they will dispose of it for you.
If you no longer need or use a medication that is prescribed for you, please do not keep ordering it, thereby building up a store, but let us know so that we can review your medication needs. Research has shown that people often have quite large amounts of unwanted medicines in their homes, which is both wasteful and dangerous. Medication has a limited shelf life and should not be taken once past its use by date.
Nearly 600 million prescription medicines are dispensed nationally each year, according to figures released in 2001–2002 and with the average cost of each medicine running at around £10 it’s easy to see how wastage can cost millions of pounds. Nationally the figure is £90 million. A massive amount of valuable health care could be purchased with this wasted money.