A retired Somerset community pharmacist has written to the Prime Minister (Mr Tony Blair) to ask him to act against excessive prescribing by general medical practitioners and hoarding of medicines by the chronically sick.
Mr Maurice Jackson, of Highbridge, Somerset, recently wrote to Mr Blair about his concern, having written three times to the previous Secretary of State for Health (Mr Frank Dobson) and twice to the current Health Secretary (Mr Alan Milburn).
Mr Jackson illustrates the scale of waste by pointing out that by the end of February, 1998, Somerset health authority had overspent its drugs budget for the year by £193,018. In one quarter of the same year, £200,000 worth of unwanted prescribed medicines had been returned to pharmacies.