To find this stockpiling of medications really annoying?

[MindSweeper]

'This medicine was returned by a patient today. Once medicine has left a pharmacy it cannot be reused for safety reasons. All of the inhalers are full. The purple ones alone (all 42 of them) are worth £60 each. That is £2520 worth of medicines that the NHS could be using for something useful'

Medication wastage currently costs the NHS £300,000,000 per year.

It's shocking how much we have to waste in hospitals too, I see how much is destroyed and it makes me think how much good that could do for people in countries who don't have access to meds.

What solutions can you think of?

People are shifting the blame on pharmacists and doctors, but a lot of the time this stockpiling is people just not telling their doctors they're not taking medications, and still ticking the box to receive the med.

We stockpile but rotate and never waste anything-it all gets used we just have a 3-6 month supply

This has occurred to me loads of times, people with multiple ailments usually. We go to (hoarders) houses and they also hoard medication. I'm speaking about large plastic tubs full of unused medication. They just don't use it but keep getting the repeat prescription whether they need it or not. I think doctors need to stop handing out prescriptions unless the patient goes to get it. The money wasted is staggering.

I wouldn't say it was older people either.

When DD registered with a new doctor for college they sent all her reeat prescriptions to the chemist who then called her in every 4 weeks to give her a large bag of repeat prescriptions

at Christmas I discussed why she has so much of everything &she explained that the chemist wouldn't just give her what she had run out of she had to have everything - i discussed it with the pharmacy who said those were the rules - so after an episode with the GP over anti-biotics we re-registered her with our home GP who give her what she wants when she needs it (asthma)

DH used to stockpile on the advise of the GP but know only holds one prescription of steroids and antibiotics in case of emergency (amoxy 500ml 3 times a day for 2 weeks) - I tried to get this cut to one week as even if they were closed we could get the second week on a repeat but they said no

On the other hand me & pharmacist have a running battle with the GP who still doesn't get I can't have capsules & I get poorly if I have artificial sweeters - so the GP prescribes capsules they pharmacy sends it back they argue over the cost of tablet/liquid vs the cost of more than one prescription because it doesn't work first time....it's great fun
Time before last she looked at what she was prescribing me & said see you in 8 days (as she knew it wouldn't work)

We had bags after my dad's cancer treatment - he never once took an anti sickness tablet & yet they prescribed months worth of them despite both of us saying they were unused

His medication was very complicated so I set up a spreadsheet of what he should take and how soon before/after food - the nurses had never seen anything like it & asked if they could copy the idea for other patients - I thought that was heartbreaking - what a basic thing someone with cancer needs

I was prescribed a 3 day course of antibiotics for a urinary tract infection the other day. The box contained about 3 times the number of tablets I needed. I know trimethroprim isn't expensive but the waste seemed ridiculous . I did wonder if they were expecting me to stockpile the surplus for my next UTI to save cost on GP visit. Which is of course what I have done.

I think it is Brasty. That's based on what the district nurse told me after we discovered FIL's massive stash. She also said it was more warfarin than shed ever seen in one place ever (including the pharmacy) and Sainsburies pharmacy had to order in extra disposal bins as it was way too much to fit in their regular one.

That's why I don't agree with people getting free prescriptions, it just encourages waste. Even if people had to pay £1 towards an item you wouldn't get this. It would save the NHS billions a year in wastage. My dad gets his medication for free as he is diabetic, and he gets about 15/16 items a month - of which his insulin and bp medication is lifesaving, but some of is paracetamol, skin lotion, fibrogel, etc all of which he wouldn't get if he had to pay towards it!! Therefore he doesn't need it.

Because some people are scumnags mrsd

Charge people for their medication. We used to live in Ireland and now I know how much my inhalers cost and my son's wart cream used to cost and antibiotics cost. I am guessing that if everyone had to pay the full amount they would think twice. In Ireland the prepayment card kicks in at €120 a month. Here is is £110 a year.

Diogenes Syndrome is a psychiatric diagnosis for hoarding in the elderly.

I am not sure whether most drug waste is due to older people hoarding (whether they have any kind of diagnosable disorder or not) or whether it is simply that more older people are more likely to have more chronic health conditions requiring more meds?

I have certainly removed carrier bags full of medication from older people's homes. It's not just the waste, it's not safe and accidental overdoses are not uncommon.

I don't think that there is a one size fits all solution to this problem, but needs engagement from ALL involved: patients, doctors, pharmacists, carers/families, social workers. V difficult to get it right for every person.

IME there are FAR more people hanging on to NHS equipment (or selling it) than trying to bring it back

I'm bumping my earlier question in the hope that it will get a response. You can buy blood glucose testing strips on eBay which have been prescribed to diabetics who would rather sell them than use them.

Oh, people love blood glucose strips!
Huge waste going on there and trying to stop them is very hard.
Some people simply like checking their blood sugar even when they don't need to. And some insulin dependent diabetics don't check their blood sugar when they should...

Ime it is the elderly, yes
They have this "I'm entitled to it" mentality that means that even if they don't need it they will still re order it
I don't think it's the elderly selling on eBay and FB though!!!

""I was prescribed a 3 day course of antibiotics for a urinary tract infection the other day. The box contained about 3 times the number of tablets ""

Because some Meds can only be prescribed in Monthly (28/30) lots.

I've had to have Meds stopped and started since last November. In one case, even though I only needed four days worth, they had to prescribe a Months worth.

My Meds come via my Consultant, not the GP and it costs me £20 each time I've had to go for an appointment. When I was having tests, it was costing me double that, every week.

Why should Patients pay, when the system makes Doctors over prescribe, in the first place, that should be felt with first.

It's the unfair judgement that stops people returning Meds to be disposed of properly, to start with.

I was misdiagnosed to start with, if it had cost me money, I'd of gone down the compensation route, tbh.

This photo was on Facebook. I'd seriously doubt its authenticity to be honest.

Really good post op. I work in a nursing home.The amount we dispose of is huge. I was having a rant the other day. I threw out 2 bin bags of dressings....hundreds of poubds. Also controlled meds and lots of other meds. I do not see why we cannot have a stock room like hospitals do with meds and dressings...with the price attached ....It makes me really cross. It is definitely one way the health service could save money.

They will take unused mediations, as long as they are still in date
Sorry to be the one to point this out but the website for the charity you mentioned clearly states that "unfortunately, we are unable to accept patient returned medicines".

Slightly different issue but I get frustrated with schools requiring prescriptions meds. More than happy to buy the antihistamines DS needs for food allergies as quicker/easier/cheaper for NHS than a prescription but the school won't accept these, even with a consultants letter explaining that he should take them if he has a reaction. I end up writing grovelling apology letters to the GP along with repeat prescription requests just to satisfy the school.

Pharmacies who have signed patients up to order their prescription on their behalf are to blame too. Monthly they request repeat prescriptions without checking if the patient needs the meds. If someone is using an 180 dose GTN spray for angina/chest pain every month, totalling 6 sprays a day they really need to see a Doctor. Same goes for asthma patients ordering 2 (400 dose) pumps on a monthly basis. They just tick the boxes.

I do query when processing prescriptions and I do tell patients that they have another month of meds left to try to minimise stock piling. I've done a prescription clerk course which made me even more aware.

Some of the cost of meds, especially "sundry" items like creams for example is shocking.

ladyvines, I have no idea about that photo, but I have personal knowledge of similar stock piling.

Oh gawd, the system for prescribing to care homes is just horrifically complicated, over administrated, wasteful, inflexible, annoying, prone to making mistakes more likely etc etc . Bane of my life!

I have certainly removed carrier bags full of medication from older people's homes.
My dad has carrier bags of medication because every time he is admitted to hospital, the consultant (despite knowing he already has the meds) prescribes a whole new box of each of 18 medications.This has happened at 3 different hospitals, so I guess it is a universal policy.So know what you are talking about before you go round blaming patients for stockpiling!

""Charge people for their medication.""

To an extent, we already do.

The hospital admissions would charge more.

There would have to be a different system put in place for people on benefits, Refuggees and asylum seekers (who can be suffering from TB/Hepatitis/HIV), which would cause further unrest and would cost more to implement.

The answer is to change the system at the source.

No, I mean charge people the real cost. So my inhalers cost around €70 a month in real money. Or at least print the cost on the boxes.