£2bn worth of drugs 'wasted' every year

Patients are wasting 20p in every £ of GPs’ drugs budgets, equating to an estimated £2bn worth of wasted drugs in the UK every year, according to research from Norwich Union Healthcare.

 

The Health of the Nation report, which is based on a survey of 1,000 GPs, suggests two in five patients are failing to take their medication as it is prescribed. People aged 13-29 are the biggest culprits, closely followed by people aged 76 and over, despite the fact that most under-19s and over-60s don’t pay for prescriptions.

 

The survey also reveals two-thirds of GPs believe non-compliance to treatment contributes to a patient’s long-term sickness and the same proportion said it increases the burden on the NHS. A quarter of GPs said non-compliance is most likely to occur when patients believe they are better before finishing their prescription.

 

When asked how the NHS could deal with the problem of patient non-compliance, nearly nine in 10 GPs said better patient education by healthcare professionals is the best way to deal with the crisis, while 71% said relatives and carers should take more responsibility for helping patients understand the importance of completing their treatment. A further one in five GPs said patients should be financially penalised for not completing a treatment.