Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this was really wasteful?!

33 replies

MyBreadIsEggy · 05/12/2016 09:22

My DS has been diagnosed with CMPA, so we are using dairy-free formula. Initially, Aptamil Pepti was prescribed by the GP. He gave us 8 tons of it (enough to last 4 weeks). But DS was still reacting, so the dietician changed us to Neocate which is working wonders. Here is my AIBU:
Prescription bags say to return any unused medicines to the pharmacy yes?
So when I went to pick up the new prescription, I returned 6 tins of completely sealed, untouched, Aptamil Pepti to the pharmacy. The pharmacist said "well that will have to go in the bin anyway" and slung all six, sealed tins in the bin!
AIBU to think this was really wasteful?! I'm assuming the prescription formula is more expensive than standard formula, but even if it did cost the same (around £10 a tin), the pharmacist just threw £60 worth of NHS money into the bin Hmm

OP posts:
Original poster
MyBreadIsEggy · 05/12/2016 09:23

8 tins....not 8 tons.
I'm feeding a newborn human, not a newborn elephant Confused

OP posts:
GlitterGlue · 05/12/2016 09:25

They can't reuse it for obvious reasons, but some people do offer it for free to other parents.

Original poster
MyBreadIsEggy · 05/12/2016 09:29

Even though the tins were completely sealed? They have a ring pull seal (like a tin of beans). I was surprised that they wouldn't just inspect it to make sure it's still sealed and replace the prescription sticker for another patient Confused

OP posts:
DailyMailCrap · 05/12/2016 09:30

A local maternity hospital takes sealed dairy free milk. I think it depends on the place tbh.

user1477282676 · 05/12/2016 09:30

Terrible waste but understandable. When we had our first DD twelve years ago, we lived in a very poor area and there was a scheme where all residents were given free stair gates and safety equipment as well as a great first aid box.

The HV told us "when you're finished with the gates, you're meant to offer them back to us but we have to scrap them...so I'm advising you off the record to give them to someone else."

Shock

We did give them to someone else. About 4 years later, a young man came to paint our kitchen and he had just had a baby with his girlfriend...he went off with 4 stairgates at the end of the day!

ragingsister · 05/12/2016 09:33

Very wasteful.
Next time try offering it up on a fb selling site for free, someone might as well get the use out if them.

abbsisspartacus · 05/12/2016 09:35

I put mine on fb for free

Peanut1012 · 05/12/2016 09:47

It is wasteful, and I hate to think how much it costs the NHS a year, but pharmacies are not allowed to re dispense returned medicines. It's because once items have left the pharmacy, storage conditions cannot be guaranteed.

user1480182169 · 05/12/2016 09:50

It's illegal to give a product on prescription if it has been previously prescribed.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/12/2016 09:51

That's such a shame. Surely if they still sealed, they can be reused. If anyone else has any spare, could it go to a foodbank?

SquedgieBeckenheim · 05/12/2016 09:55

It's the medicine law in this country that any medication, once dispensed, cannot be reused for another prescription. This is why GP'S will generally only issue prescriptions for one months supply. And this is where a lot of wastage is within the NHS budgets- people getting prescriptions then not using them!

JaniceBattersby · 05/12/2016 09:59

Loads of people round here stick them on FB (on their own pages as opposed to selling pages) and offer them for free or a charity donation.

diddl · 05/12/2016 10:01

Is it actually a medicine though?

Seems a terrible waste.

DailyMailCrap · 05/12/2016 10:06

It's not. If maternity hospitals can accept it then the pharmacist should too - they prob have a blanket ban on accepting all prescriptions as they don't want to/can't check the seals for everything?

Hellochicken · 05/12/2016 10:10

All prescriptions once dispensed cannot be reused. Pharmacist wasnt being wasteful following rules.
Your formula is only a drop in the ocean of wasted prescriptions. There is a lot more expensive than that.

Helenluvsrob · 05/12/2016 10:12

The regulations re there for a purpose, no one can guarantee that something that has left a pharmacy ( or shop, I bet you'd struggle to return baby formula purchased in error) hasn't been tampered with ( ditto medication) so it simply cannot be reused.

Serin · 05/12/2016 10:12

Yes that does seem very wasteful, thanks to those who advised offering them on FB, this issue should be highlighted.

Fluffycloudland77 · 05/12/2016 10:16

The pharmacist most likely sees it as wasteful too but if they break the rules and lose their job they've paid a heavy price.

Really the GP should have prescribed one or two tins. But then people would complain they had to go back quickly to get more if their babies take to it.

Stormwhale · 05/12/2016 10:23

I wouldn't want to risk giving my newborn formula that had been given to someone else first. That tiny risk that someone had tampered with it (eg injecting something into the tub) is a risk not worth taking imo. The possible consequences are too devastating.

StarlingMurderation · 05/12/2016 10:24

I tried to get rid of mine on here but no-one wanted them. I guess I should have tried Facebook.

diddl · 05/12/2016 10:28

I suppose then the GP should have prescribed 1 or two tins in case it wasn't suitable?

Glastonbury · 05/12/2016 10:54

All returned medicines have to be disposed of. They don't know if they have been stored correctly or if they have been tampered with.

IvorHughJarrs · 05/12/2016 10:55

This is an endless problem for the NHS. GP prescribes just one or two tins and there is an increased workload for the surgery doing repeat prescriptions weekly and some parents would be raising hell complaining about it. Give a reasonable quantity and there is the risk of more waste.

If you went to get a prescription dispensed and the pharmacist said it had been given to someone else previously but you didn't know anything about their cleanliness, how they'd stored it or even if they were a weirdo who might have tampered with it, you would not want your child to have that

littlewoollypervert · 05/12/2016 11:01

I'm in Ireland and it's the same here, my mum was prescribed Ensure but died suddenly, my dad had about 3 boxes of the stuff in the garage (didn't need to be refrigerated), and it all had to be tossed.

FinallyARainbow · 05/12/2016 11:06

Similar happened to us, DS was on nutriprem and we were given 4 tins but at his out patient check the nurse said he was ready to move to standard formula. The pharmacy wouldn't accept the sealed tins but the neo natal nurse took them as she was on her way to a visit for a baby who also went home on nutriprem so passed them on at least.