PATIENTS ordering unnecessary repeat prescriptions cost a north Durham health care authority £250,000 a year.
Derwentside Primary Care Trust published the figure as it launched a fresh campaign to combat medicine wastage.
The money is lost through people stockpiling drugs available on repeat prescription, which can be collected monthly from pharmacies without the need to return to a GP.
The trust launched the campaign by highlighting how the money could be better spent, such as on hiring eight nurses, paying for 42 hip replacements or treating 365 cataracts.
Out-of-date and unwanted drugs can be dangerous, with the elderly and small children most at risk. Medicines can be returned to pharmacies for safe disposal.
Lee Middleton, medicines management project facilitator for the trust, said: "We hope that the campaign will help patients to understand how to order their repeat prescriptions and encourage them to talk to their GP surgery if they stop taking their medicines.
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