Unused medicines

_Anna_

Dear all,
does anyone know whether pharmacies have to collect any unused medicine? Today I took an old medicine to a pharmacy next to my home but a pharmacy assistant consulted her manager and they told me that they might collect only those medicines that have been bought in their pharmacy. Is it correct? I googled and it looks like that they have to collect all medicines.
Thank you.

HumberFlyer

"collect only those medicines that have been bought in their pharmacy. Is it correct?"..................... NO

unforeseen

https://www.wuth.nhs.uk/our-departments/a-z-of-departments/pharmacy/faqs/what-should-i-do-with-left-over-or-expired-medicines/#:~:text=Medicines that are past their,to your local pharmacy too.

Medicines that are past their expiry date, or are no longer required, can be taken to any pharmacy to be disposed of safely. You can also recycle your inhalers so return them to your local pharmacy too.

OutdoorQueen

Several years ago now I was helping a client following the death of a partner.   I caused chaos at a small local pharmacy because I turned up with a very large bag of medicines.  They took them from me but were very concerned as they didn’t have much space for storage.  They also advised that controlled medicines (morphine for example) should be returned to the pharmacy that dispensed them.  

They advised in future to ring the pharmacy first as some only have a very small storage space for old / opened medicines, and they may not be able to take a large quantity without prior notification.

Not sure if the situation is still the same.      

badmemory

They are supposed to accept any, to avoid people flushing them down the toilet.  Which would be a very very bad idea.  Not collect maybe but certainly accept any meds.

Brie

being nasty and cruel when people have said "we don't take those" I've just left them to deal with them.  My alternative is to flush them or put them in the bin.

jackieblack

OutdoorQueen said:

Several years ago now I was helping a client following the death of a partner.   I caused chaos at a small local pharmacy because I turned up with a very large bag of medicines.  They took them from me but were very concerned as they didn’t have much space for storage.  They also advised that controlled medicines (morphine for example) should be returned to the pharmacy that dispensed them.  

They advised in future to ring the pharmacy first as some only have a very small storage space for old / opened medicines, and they may not be able to take a large quantity without prior notification.

Not sure if the situation is still the same.      

I recently needed to return a carrier bag full of medications after parent died. The pharmacy accepted them all with some reluctance but only the actual blister strips, due to limited space - I had to empty each box and take away all the boxes and leaflets (which went in the recycling bin after removing name/address details from the labels). 

Flugelhorn

I worked in a dispensing practice and we had to pay for disposal of meds so were not wild about loads of stuff coming back in. Also controlled drugs had to be stored and we didn't have much room in our CD cupboard - used to use denaturing pots but they also took up space

Brie

@Flugelhorn
I had no idea that the chemists would have to pay for disposal!!!  I suppose then as long as the drugs are resellable (CD) or too toxic they could just be binned.  I know at one point I was told to flush things but then who knows what that will do to wildlife that will eventually ingest them all.  

Flugelhorn

this was a GP practice with a dispensary - we were charged by the bin load, not sure what the situation is for high street pharmacies - probably the same. We mainly used it for our own meds that had gone out of date though occasionally people did turn up with bagfuls from home - but on the whole advised people to put them in the general rubbish. 
CDs were the only exception - had to be signed back in and then destroyed (but fully accounted for in the process - witnessed destruction in a denaturing pots, signed for by 2 people  etc etc) 

Undervalued

Brie said:

@Flugelhorn
I had no idea that the chemists would have to pay for disposal!!!  I suppose then as long as the drugs are resellable (CD) or too toxic they could just be binned.  I know at one point I was told to flush things but then who knows what that will do to wildlife that will eventually ingest them all.  

As far as I know they are not allowed to reuse any returned medicine as they cannot be certain of how it was stored or it may even be counterfeit.

Pretty much any business has to pay to dispose of their rubbish as, unlike household, it is not free. This is also why charity shops get annoyed about unsaleable donations.