The Association of:
Formulation Innovation
for better dosing, reduced wastage and better patient care
The BBC details the problem of drug wastage in the NHS in a 2018 article (ref. 1) – this outlines the issues within the NHS and its prescription policy. Reform to this policy has been described as necessary to cut waste and save the NHS money.
Drug wastage remains an unsolved problem despite numerous articles published in the last decade which seek to highlight the waste issue.
- it’s not uncommon for older patients to have been prescribed 10 or 20 or more medicines.
- Drugs that don’t agree with patients can also end up being wasted.
- One patient even produced enough unused drugs to fill four bin bags.
- Regular medicine reviews offer an added benefit to the wider NHS, which spends around £20bn each year on medication.
- 8% of hospital admissions are medicine-related.
- 30% to 50% of medicines are not taken in the way they were intended.
These findings suggest that there is the potential for the NHS to continue to waste resources due to its policy on distribution of drugs to patients. The statistics and findings in the article, strongly suggest a more pragmatic approach to dosing would assist in reduction of wastage. This could potentially give the NHS the ability to save funding allowing money to be re-distributed to other areas.
Ref. 1 “Pharmacists call for regular reviews of medicines” Dominic Hughes, BBC News, February 2019.
Tailor Solutions for Better Care