A CAMPAIGN has been launched in a bid to reduce medicine waste across Inverclyde and neighbouring areas.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) dispenses around 100,000 medicines in the community every day at an average cost of almost £11 per item – totalling more than £1 million daily.

But the health board says recent figures show that around 10 per cent of these are thrown away because they are not needed or have not been taken.

It is estimated that this waste accounts for around £100,000 per day – the equivalent of a day’s wages for 700 nurses, or more than 200 consultants.

NHSGGC is asking patients to follow three steps to help reduce this figure: resist the urge to over-order, take control of prescriptions through regular reviews and know how to dispose of unused medications.

Gail Caldwell, director of pharmacy at NHSGGC, said: “It’s natural for people to want to request an extra packet of medicine for their elderly mother, or to order one more inhaler for their child in the run-up to a holiday.

"But we would encourage everyone to think twice about stockpiling medicines or ordering them before they need them.”