Only Order What You Need – Your Medication

Each year, 1.6 million items of medicines are prescribed unnecessarily each year in Coventry and Warwickshire. We’re asking people to help us reduce this number by ‘Only Ordering What You Need’.

Why is this important?

	Stay well Unused medicines expire and might not work as we want them to Keeping big stocks of medicines at home can make drug shortages worse
	Stay safe Big stocks of medicines at home can be a danger to children and pets Medicines are only prescribed for you and to be safe, should not be shared
	Stay green The best way to manage waste medicines, is to give them to your pharmacy. This helps stop medicines polluting our beautiful rivers and waterways. By only ordering what you need, you help the environment, because once medicines have left the pharmacy, they cannot be recycled or used by anyone else

What we can do

The good news is there is a lot we can do to tackle medicines waste, and everyone can play a part.

Thank you for helping your community to reduce medicine waste. 

Only order what you need

• Check what medicines you have at home before you order your repeat prescriptions. If you have enough, only request the medicines you need this time. You will still be able to order others again in future.
• Speak to your pharmacy team if you have any questions about how to change your prescription request.

Open your prescription bag

Check your prescription bag before leaving the pharmacy to make sure that you only have what you need and that there’s nothing extra in there. If you return an item before you leave the pharmacy, the medicines can be reused.

Your medicines and hospitals

Always keep a list of your medicines, the doses, and how you take them in your wallet or purse, and if you know you’re going into hospital take all your medicines with you.

These actions mean that staff have a complete record of what you’re taking, that the hospital won’t need to dispense more of the same medication  and can speed up your care.

When it’s time to go home take the right medicines with you. Before you leave ask if any changes have been made to your medicines and take home everything that’s still suitable.

The video above was created by the NHS in Fife and

explains why reducing medicine waste is so important.

Reduce waste with a conversation

Speak to a healthcare professional if you’ve stopped taking any of your medicines or if they’re no longer right for you.

This is not a problem, and in fact, means your team will be able to improve your healthcare.

Unused or out of date medicines can be returned to your pharmacy for safe disposal.

Did you know?

It’s estimated that £13.3m worth of medicines are prescribed unnecessarily each year in Coventry and Warwickshire. This is equivalent to:

• 2,300 knee replacements
• 39,000 rounds of chemotherapy
• 345,000 GP appointments
• 8,316,780kg of carbon dioxide emissions

We’re asking you to help us reduce the amount of medicines that are wasted so you stay well, stay safe and stay green, and to help us ensure this money can be used on essential NHS services.