DUMP Campaign
23/06/2006

Return unwanted medicines to The Health Centre Pharmacy

Almost £200,000 worth of unwanted medicines are returned to pharmacies in the East Antrim area every year. This was the finding of the recent DUMP campaign (Dispose Unwanted Medicines Properly) in the area. DUMP aims to encourage people to safely discard their unwanted, unused or out-of-date medications by bringing them back to their local pharmacist.

The DUMP campaign was established by the South East Antrim Locality Pharmacists Group and is funded by the Northern Health and Social Services Board.

Jonathon Lloyd, a community pharmacist, Carrickfergus Chemists, said:

"All pharmacies offer a safe disposal service for unwanted medicines. We wanted to raise awareness of this free service to residents in our community and we are very encouraged that so many unused medicines were returned and disposed of safely."

The campaign estimated that a total of 13,000 medicines are returned to pharmacies in the East Antrim area each year. The main reason for the disposal of medicines is that in most cases the medicine had been changed or stopped by the patient’s doctor, often due to side effects or the condition improving. A reduction in the number of prescriptions issued by GP Practices could lead to increased funding for essential operations such as cardiac surgery or cataract operations.

Dr R Esler, Whitehead Health Centre, said:

"We would encourage patients not to keep large quantities of medication at home. It is good to see that so many medicines are returned to pharmacies for safe disposal, but we will be working to find out why so many medicines are not used and how we can reduce this potential waste of resources."

Valerie Scott, Prescribing Adviser, Northern Health and Social Services Board, said:

"You can help to reduce the number of unwanted medicines in your home by:

• Only ordering medicines that you need
• Telling your GP if you have stopped taking any repeat medicines
• Giving unwanted and out-of-date medicines to your local pharmacy for disposal."
• The recent findings from the DUMP campaign will be circulated to local residents and health care professionals. Leaflets promoting the correct use and disposal of medicines are available in local GP Practices and pharmacies.

Pictured during the DUMP campaign (left to right) are Jonathan Lloyd, Carrickfergus Chemists; Valerie Scott, Prescribing Adviser, Northern Health and Social Services Board; Glynis Boyd-McMurtry, Prescribing Adviser, Northern Health and Social Services Board; and Doris Shaw, Calwells Pharmacy, Whitehead.