As soon as a medicine leaves a pharmacy it cannot be reused or recycled. 

Pharmacists are just not allowed to do this.  It doesn’t matter if you have just stepped out of the pharmacy, or if a medicine is returned after some time – the same rules apply. 

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) say that medicines should not be reused because, once they have left the pharmacy, quality cannot be guaranteed

When medicines have left a pharmacy, how they have been handled and stored is unknown and, because of that, the quality, safety and how effective they may be cannot be guaranteed. 

There are also concerns over possible counterfeit medicines and possible risks of malicious tampering.  

To avoid this it is best to order only what you need and prevent any avoidable unused medicines being wasted. 

Managing medicines correctly would reduce unused medicines, this would in turn reduce medicines returned to pharmacies for destructions and have positive impacts on medicine costs and the environment. 

You must never share medicines prescribed for you with family or friends – this can be very dangerous. If you take a medicine that was meant for someone else, you could experience an allergic reaction, an interaction with other medicines or serious side effects. 

Published: 10/06/2024 14:19