Prescribing & Medicines Management
Issue no 4, p4
July/August 2003

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Medicines waste in Peterborough

Greater Peterborough Primary Care Partnership estimates that medicines waste in the city is costing the NHS around £1m a year after discovering that one community pharmacy collected £2,000 of medicines waste in a month.

The partnership, which represents the city’s two primary care trusts, is launching a medicines waste campaign aimed at patients at the end of August to try and reduce the amount of wastage.

One hundred posters will be displayed in community pharmacies, GP and dental surgeries, and 5,000 leaflets distributed which tell patients what they can do to reduce medicines waste.

A key message will be that the £1m created by medicines waste money could buy 100 cardiac heart grafts, 100 hip replacement operations or 650 cataract operations.