Campaign urges patients to ‘only order what you need.’
Every year, about £20 million worth of medicines are wasted across the North East and North Cumbria – money that could be reinvested into patient care and vital NHS services.
To help tackle this issue, North East and North Cumbria ICB’s medicines optimisation team has been working closely with local pharmacies and GP practices to raise awareness and encourage patients to have their medication reviewed.
The ICB is also launching a region-wide campaign to ask the public to ‘only order what they need’ when requesting medicines and to follow a few simple steps:
1. Only order what you need – check what medicines you have at home before you place an order.
2. Hand back – when you collect your medicines from your local pharmacy, make sure that you only have what you need. If you return an item before you leave the pharmacy, it can be reused.
3. Stick to your routine – by ordering your medication when you are running low, and no earlier.
These simple steps are designed to ensure patients receive the right medicines and care, reduce waste, and make better use of NHS resources – helping to improve healthcare across our region.
Not only that but it’s safer too. Holding onto medication can also lead to mistakes about what to take and when, especially if your prescription changes. The ICB is also reminding people to speak to their pharmacist or GP if they have any concerns about their medicines or need advice.
The ‘only order what you need’ campaign is part of a wider ‘are your medicines working for you?’ initiative.
Primary care organisations can share these important messages across their own social media channels. Campaign resources are available here. You can also find out more about the campaign on the public-facing website.
