More than £15.2 million worth of medicine items are wasted unnecessarily in Lincolnshire each year, which is the equivalent to the cost of 417 nurses, according to NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board, leading it to launch a new campaign Medicines Waste.
The figure is based on the wastage of approximately 2.1 million medicine items annually, which, in addition to the cost to the local NHS, also has significant repercussions for patient safety, drug supply chains, staff time and the environment.
The main purpose of the ICB’s new Medicines Waste campaign will be to reduce the number of unnecessary medicines ordered off a repeat prescription by raising awareness of this issue, primarily amongst Lincolnshire residents aged 65 and over, and through encouraging people to only order necessary prescriptions.
“We know that as the NHS we need to get better at adjusting our prescriptions so only the right amount of medicine is offered,” said Dr Sunil Hindocha, GP and Medical Director, NHS Lincolnshire ICB. “However, we are asking patients for their help with this because we know they often feel obliged to order everything on a repeat prescription slip even when they don’t need it, contributing unknowingly to medicines wastage.”
