Health chiefs urge prescription discipline

Hundreds of thousands of pounds going to waste

Health chiefs say a new campaign to reduce stockpiles of wasted medicines in the Island won't prevent people getting prescriptions.

It's thought dispensed medications worth around £300,000 per year are languishing in homes, unopened and unused.

The health department's urging people to order only what they need for two months maximum - to cut down the large quantities of medicines returned to pharmacies for disposal. 

Patients are being told not to tick all items on a repeat prescription form, unless they actually need them - in case some go out of date.

The government's pharmaceutical advisor, Maria Bell, says it's a common sense campaign, not about restricting any meds: