Locally, unused prescription medicines cost the NHS an estimated £2milion each year. Based on average costs and to give this some context, this money could be spent on 79 more nurses or 132 more drug treatment courses for breast cancer.
In Sefton, at both the CCGs (south Sefton and Southport and Formby), we have been on a bit of a ‘winter tour’ telling people about medicine waste and how to avoid it. We’ve also been advising them on how to take their medicine properly so they are as effective as possible but also how to dispose of medicines should they or someone they know have medicines at home that are no longer needed.
Our audience - When we were planning the ‘tour’ several months ago the first thing we thought about was who is our target audience? It’s simple really, everyone is! Our GPs, our chemist staff and all patients are key in spreading the message about medicine waste and at some stage in our lives we’ll need to think about it for either ourselves, our friends or our families.
The tour - As part of our winter tour the team got out and about to meet a number of different community groups across the borough. The first of these events was an older people’s forum in Sefton. Everyone was really surprised and shocked by the figures, particularly when they heard examples of what treatments and services £2million pounds could have otherwise been spent on. This made me realise that getting out and speaking to people can change people’s views and that we can make a difference in educating people to change their way of thinking. A lot of people walked out that day with a different attitude and told me that what they’ve heard will really make them think in future before ordering or accepting more medicines than they need.
Advice - The main pieces of advice that we are giving to people are:
• Let your pharmacist, GP or nurse know if you are having difficulty, or have stopped taking your medicines.
• Check what medicines you still have at home before re-ordering.
• If you don’t need it, don’t order it!
• If you do need it, ensure you take the full course prescribed to you for it to be effective as possible.
• Unused medicines can be taken to the chemist for safe disposal
Competition time - I wanted to end my blog on a bit of a fun note with a little competition that we organised to promote medicine waste in Sefton. We asked our practices and local chemists to put together a creative display to raise awareness of medicine waste. This ended up with lots of patients asking questions and talking to each other about the displays; exactly what we were aiming for. 42 Kingsway Surgery in Waterloo won the prize with a fantastic display. The practice really went to town to get the message across by creating a homemade medicine cabinet made from cardboard and foil with empty medicine boxes stacked high inside, very creative I thought. This was placed in their waiting area and really worked in getting people talking. They won a hamper full of food and drink goodies which we delivered to them just before Christmas.
Moral of the story… As head of medicine management it is extremely important to me that the message is passed on and I can’t stress enough how important it is to only order or accept medicines that you need as unused prescriptions cost the local NHS an estimated £2million a year. We are now looking at the results of the campaign and thinking about other ways we can carry the message on.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and if you do have any questions please contact me at [email protected] Susanne Lynch, head of medicine management at NHS South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Southport and Formby CCG