"To stop the waste of NHS prescribed medication and equipment by (a) a more responsible approach to usage of medicines by everyone from GPs, patients, Nursing Homes etc and (2) recycling in the U.K. or donating to needy countriesEvery day thousands of pounds of prescription medicine is wasted. An estimate in 2015 was wastage worth £300 million and this figure has almost certainly gone up. This is because once a batch of medication has been prescribed for an individual, any unused medicine, even if the packet or bottle has not been opened, cannot be used for another patient. I have a relative who has a chronic illness and has been on regular medication for a long time. Each time his medication is amended - i.e either the dosage is changed or medication itself is altered - any pills remaining from his previous prescription have to be handed back to the Pharmacist to be destroyed. I am also aware that sadly when a person passes away any unused medication has to be similarly disposed off. The same applies to equipment - particularly mobility aids. The NHS has been struggling with funding for years and there also many countries around the world where seriously ill people cannot afford the medication they need - that is presuming the medication is available to them in the first place. Items like mobility aids would also be very gratefully received in some countries. I am calling on Matt Hancock to look into ways of stopping this terrible waste. Either there should be some way of reusing any untouched and in date medicines in this country or, alternatively, donating it to aid agencies or health organisations for the benefit of our less fortunate brothers and sisters all around the world. I am adding this detail to my petition, on the 23rd of May, (1) to confirm that savings should be made by monitoring dispensing and usage of prescription medicines more carefully and (2) to clarify that I am not asking for all unused medication to be recycled as clearly there are ethical, quality and liability considerations, especially where it is not possible to be sure these medicines have been stored properly. However, when (a) medication has been wrongly dispensed by the Pharmacy and is returned immediately (which happens more often then we may think (b) when it is returned promptly due to, for example, changes in Prescription and (c) where medication is kept in controlled conditions in Care Homes, Hospitals etc., there should be no reason why they cannot be re-used. "
From Centre for Sustainable Healthcare UK ONLY Petition.https://www.change.org/p/matthew-hancock-mp-stop-the-waste-of-expensive-prescription-medicines?recruiter=266552976&recruited_by_id=6a9ffb80-d5f9-11e4-9929-6310b30a7e81&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboardQuote"To stop the waste of NHS prescribed medication and equipment by (a) a more responsible approach to usage of medicines by everyone from GPs, patients, Nursing Homes etc and (2) recycling in the U.K. or donating to needy countriesEvery day thousands of pounds of prescription medicine is wasted. An estimate in 2015 was wastage worth £300 million and this figure has almost certainly gone up. This is because once a batch of medication has been prescribed for an individual, any unused medicine, even if the packet or bottle has not been opened, cannot be used for another patient. I have a relative who has a chronic illness and has been on regular medication for a long time. Each time his medication is amended - i.e either the dosage is changed or medication itself is altered - any pills remaining from his previous prescription have to be handed back to the Pharmacist to be destroyed. I am also aware that sadly when a person passes away any unused medication has to be similarly disposed off. The same applies to equipment - particularly mobility aids. The NHS has been struggling with funding for years and there also many countries around the world where seriously ill people cannot afford the medication they need - that is presuming the medication is available to them in the first place. Items like mobility aids would also be very gratefully received in some countries. I am calling on Matt Hancock to look into ways of stopping this terrible waste. Either there should be some way of reusing any untouched and in date medicines in this country or, alternatively, donating it to aid agencies or health organisations for the benefit of our less fortunate brothers and sisters all around the world. I am adding this detail to my petition, on the 23rd of May, (1) to confirm that savings should be made by monitoring dispensing and usage of prescription medicines more carefully and (2) to clarify that I am not asking for all unused medication to be recycled as clearly there are ethical, quality and liability considerations, especially where it is not possible to be sure these medicines have been stored properly. However, when (a) medication has been wrongly dispensed by the Pharmacy and is returned immediately (which happens more often then we may think (b) when it is returned promptly due to, for example, changes in Prescription and (c) where medication is kept in controlled conditions in Care Homes, Hospitals etc., there should be no reason why they cannot be re-used. "
Signed, thanx JW77.And Kristina I think this petition is 1. About time, 2. Could save a lot of money to the NHS so it can keep doing what it does at the moment. I’ve received lots of times the wrong medication. Brought it back to the pharmacy whom I received it from. Just to find it ‘will be destroyed’ later. Now I have my doubts with that, as in The Netherlands (40 Yrs ago when I lived there, and their version of NHS still existed, it was known that those medicines were sold again, and again as the their NHS paid the private Pharmacies per item dispensed)Love, Cas
@KristinaThe campaign/petition comes from The Network for Sustainable Healthcare (which in all realty is about 11 really keen medical professionals and those involved aiming towards a greener/less waste, better for patients, and the planet methodology of healthcare from many many specialities. I know some were down in London joining in with XR.On the Petition, a few examples include lack of communication between patients and medics, or visa versa resulting in buildups of stock of several 100's in some cases.Its a very toxic election. Boris's relationship with Trump is terrifying, both remind me of the bond villain Goldfinger ''He Loves Only Gold' and look the part! Ready to destroy a country for his own power trip. The NHS has been trickle privatised, from the formation of trusts, to tendering catering, transport, private prescription companies, GP CCG's and GP groups run by 'Virgin Health' and other companies.Not yet relying on food banks here, but close, for a quid we're collecting supermarket 'waste' once a week from the local community centre, where volunteers have gone out to collect it from the supermarkets.. Perfectly good food that would otherwise be incinerated
P.S. As of 8 th May 2019 : Across NHS hospital community and primary care settings, there are around 150,000 doctors in total and over 320,000 nurses and midwives.Furthermore, as a chart shows, the level of cover of GPs varies across the UK and across the regions of England. How come that of all these 150,000 NHS-doctors there are only 11 (eleven) NHS-GP/doctors within the "Network for Sustainable Healthcare" who want to put forward this particular petition ? And if, as you say, there is so much waste of medication etc., how come that there are only 11 (eleven) NHS doctors concerned? And if there is a lack of communication between doctors and patients, could it be that these patients don't speak the language ? Whilst thinking about it : I honestly can't imagine that NHS-GP's and NHS-doctors prescribe medications to NHS-patients despite the fact that these medications are no longer needed?