When ordering repeat prescriptions please order only what you need and support the practice “Wasted Medicines Campaign”.
Gables Surgery, along with other practices across Barking & Dagenham are participating in the “Wastes Medicines Campaign” which aims to highlight to patients the importance of ordering only the medicines they really need.
The Department of Health has estimated that nearly £40 million is lost each year in London just through wasted medicines.
Dr Waseem Mohi, Chair of the local GPs group says:If you have unwanted medicines at home, they need to go back to the pharmacy for safe disposal. It is estimated that at any one time £90 million worth of unused prescription medicines are being kept in people’s homes across the UK – that’s a huge waste. So we are asking our patients to help save the NHS millions each year which could be reinvested in health services in our area…. If you are a patient with a repeat prescription, think about what they are ordering and only ask for what you really need and are running out of. Once medicines have been dispensed, they cannot be recycled and that is where much of the waste is happening.
So, when ordering your repeat prescription, please ensure you only TICK for the medicines you REALLY NEED and are running out of!
If you have medicines on your repeat prescription which you no longer regularly take, or would like removed from your list, then please inform the doctor or nurse when ordering your prescription.