Stop wasting money on medication

The money could instead be buy one of the following:

- 200 hip replacements

- 140 heart by-pass operations

- 1400 cataract operations

- 30 community nurses

- 180 knee replacements.

In a bid to save money to pay for other services, GPs and pharmacists across the area have joined together to launch a new campaign to tackle the problem.

One of the main concerns is medicines on repeat prescriptions, which are ordered and collected by patients but are not needed because they have stopped using the drugs.

These unwanted medicines are the target of this new campaign which will help Hastings and Rother PCT to save money and improve healthcare for local people.

People with repeat prescriptions will be reminded to only order what they need. Once medicines have been dispensed they cannot be recycled and have to be thrown away '“ whether they've been used or not.

Patients are also being encouraged to have regular reviews of their medicines with their pharmacist or prescribing doctor to discuss any issues they may have with their drugs.

Another focus of the campaign is to raise awareness of the dangers of having unused medicines lying around at home. This may be a significant danger, particularly if there are young children present.

Graham Delves, Medicines Management Lead for Hastings and Rother PCT said: "We are constantly looking at ways to deliver better and more effective patient care. Unwanted drugs in the home may mean that patients are not getting the benefit they could be from their medicines. It also represents a large amount of waste.

"Wasted medicines means wasted money. It can't be used again and if we could save some of that money we could reinvest it in other areas of healthcare to benefit the local community."

Thousands of posters and leaflets will also be distributed to GP surgeries and pharmacies. Inserts have also been produced to go into prescription bags in pharmacies or dispensing practices.

The campaign, which runs throughout April, will encourage people not to stockpile medicines, only to order what is needed and to take all prescription medicines with them if they are going to hospital.

Anyone with unwanted medicines can return them to their local pharmacy or dispensing practice where they will be disposed of safely.