Your medicines matter/ patients’ own drugs
In 2022-23, NHS England spent £18.5billion on medicines prescribed in hospitals and the community (this excludes expenditure on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments) *. It is estimated that over £300million of these NHS prescribed medicines were wasted - 2% of the overall spend.
Hospitals across Greater Manchester are relaunching the campaign this Spring called ‘Your Medicines Matter’ to remind patients and carers to bring their medicines when they come into hospital for an appointment, are admitted or need to go to A&E.
The campaign was initially run in 2017, to improve the level of medicines that a patient would bring into the hospital for use during their admission. These are medicines that are familiar to them, which helps with compliance in taking the medication. During COVID, patients were discouraged from bringing items from home, including medicines.
The region’s hospitals are making the ‘Your Medicines Matter’ plea to improve safety and provide a better experience for patients. This means:
- hospital staff can decide on the best and safest treatment for patients
- patients can continue to take medicines they recognise
- reduced waste and costs in hospitals reissuing medicines
- reduced delays when patients are being discharged