A CAMPAIGN to cut £3million wasted on medicines has been launched by the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group.

GPs and pharmacists are trying to educate patients to understand more about their medicines and the options they have.

One of the main concerns is medicines on repeat prescriptions, which are ordered and collected by patients but are not used.

Posters and leaflets are being displayed in pharmacies and surgeries to raise awareness of medicine waste among patients and carers.

Shaun Green, associate director of Prescribing and Medicines Management of the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Unwanted drugs in the home may mean that patients are not getting the benefit they could be from their medicines. It also represents a large amount of waste.

“We want patients who are having repeat prescriptions to think about what they are ordering and only to ask for what they need and are running out of. Once medicines have been dispensed, they cannot be recycled.”

Anyone with unwanted medicines can return them to their local pharmacy where they will be disposed of safely.