Reducing Medicine Waste
Making a Repeat Prescription Requests – Please Only Order What You Need
Did you know that approximately 1.6 million medicine items are wasted unnecessarily in Dorset every year? We are asking patients in our network for help to reduce this.
We want people to have the right medicine and care while reducing the amount of medicine waste. If you have enough medicine at home, there’s no need to order more every time. You will still be able to request your medicine again in the future.
How can you help?
- Stay well
- Unused medicines go out of date and might not work as intended, meaning your care might be compromised.
- Stockpiling medicines worsens drug shortages.
- Stay safe
- Stockpiles of medicines kept at home can be dangerous for children and pets.
- Medicines are only prescribed for you, and sharing prescribed medication with anyone else is not safe.
- Stay green
- When you dispose of medicines properly, by handing them into your pharmacy, you are helping to make sure that waste medicines do not pollute our rivers and seas.
- Only ordering what you need means that you are helping the environment because once medicines have left the pharmacy, they cannot be recycled or used by anyone else.
The good news is that you can help make a tremendous difference by only ordering what you need.
Thank you to the many people who are already doing this.
For more information, visit the NHS Dorset website here>> – www.nhsdorset.nhs.uk/yourmeds
