UNUSED medicines are costing Warrington Primary Care Trust more than £1 million per year, according to statistics released this week as part of a new campaign.
The north west wastage campaign claims that more than 2.5 million prescription medicines are dispensed in the town annually with each medicine costing the NHS, on average, more than £10.
The One Pot Pays For It All campaign emphasises that if medicines are unused or not needed, other parts of the NHS suffer.
For example, the amount of waste medicines collected in Warrington each year would pay for 216 hip replacements, 148 heart bypasses or 1,527 cataract operations.
Clare Dutton, acting senior pharmaceutical advisor for Warrington Primary Care Trust, said: "This is a very big problem but there is a simple answer, which is for people to only order what they need.
"Unfortunately there is no such thing as a free prescription and everything has to be paid for whether it is used or not."
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