Prescription medication is dosed and supplied very carefully to ensure that only the amount of medication needed to treat a condition, manage symptoms or otherwise help a person feel better is supplied.
This means that, in an ideal world, there are no doses left after the end of treatment, and the last pill that is taken is the end of a cycle, which can mean either the end of treatment or that it is time to order a repeat prescription.
However, for several reasons, there is a chance that there could be leftover tablets or remnants of a bottle or inhaler, which must be safely disposed of at a pharmacy, clinic or hospital.
This process is simple, and your local pharmacy will help ensure that any medicines you do not or cannot use are disposed of in ways that cannot cause any harm to yourself, to other people or to the environment.
However, whilst this service is important, prevention is better than cure, and the best way to stop leftover medicines is to understand why they exist in the first place.
What causes medicines to be unwanted? Why must they be disposed of safely? And what can you and your local pharmacy do to avoid unwanted medicines?
What Are Unwanted Medicines?
According to NHS Grampian, unused, unwanted and leftover medicines are any doses of prescription medication that are not going to be used in the future.
Prescription medicines are very powerful and potentially harmful if they end up in landfills or water supplies, so they cannot be disposed of like any other rubbish; they typically have to be burned or safely disposed of in a way that ensures they do not harm others.
Some prescription medications can be harmful if taken beyond the duration and condition for which they were intended, such as short-dose opiate-based painkillers, so it is important not to leave prescription medications in the house where they could be easily reached.
As well as this, medicines that have expired beyond their use-by date (or a certain amount of time after opening) must be disposed of safely, as their potency cannot be predicted and they may not work as intended.
Why Are Some Medicines Leftover?
There are a lot of reasons why medication is left unused or unwanted, and whilst every step is taken by doctors and pharmacists to minimise this issue, there are instances when unwanted medication is difficult or even impossible to avoid.
To help with this, we have sorted many common reasons why medicines are left unused into those that are avoidable with effective medicine management and those that are rarer but mostly unavoidable.
Avoidable Reasons
- Medicines are not taken in the right doses as prescribed.
- Doses are missed, skipped or forgotten about.
- All items marked for a repeat prescription are requested, even if they are no longer needed.
- Medicines are lost and need to be resupplied on an emergency basis.
- Medicines are ordered more frequently than needed, leading to stockpiling.
- The supply does not match the dose, leading to leftover doses at the end.
Unavoidable Reasons
- A prescription is reduced or stopped in agreement with a GP due to side effects or personal needs.
- A change in treatment plan or a sudden improvement in symptoms means they are no longer required.
- The prescription goes out of date, which is not always due to forgetfulness or delays.
- A change in circumstance, such as moving house or transferring from a hospital back home, or to residential care.
- A particular medication is only available in a dose larger than the one prescribed.
What Medicines Can Pharmacies Not Take?
Typically, pharmacies can take most common types of prescription and over-the-counter medication, including tablets, capsules, bottles with liquid medicines in them, ointments, blister packs with unused medicines in them, and inhalers.
Simply take the medicine (in its original packaging if you have it) to the pharmacy, hand it to the pharmacist, and they will take care of it.
However, not all medicines can be accepted at pharmacies for safety and legal reasons, although you will typically be advised by your doctor, the local council or the pharmacy itself on safe disposal practices. These include:
- Used needles, syringes, lancets or other sharps, as they can potentially be a biological hazard.
- Cytotoxic or cytostatic medication, which can cause cell death and are typically part of hormone therapy or some forms of cancer treatment.
- Classified drugs, although in cases where these are prescribed or for another good reason, disposal can be arranged.
- Medical equipment, often for the same health and legal reasons.