HEALTH officials fear they may go £1m over budget unless patients help them reduce spending on prescribed drugs.

Patients are ticking all the boxes on repeat prescriptions whether they need the drugs or not, while others are stockpiling unnecessarily hundreds of tablets unaware of the cost to the National Health Service.

Examples include a family who discovered 1,500 Digoxin heart tablets in the bathroom cupboard of an elderly relative who had died - enough medication to last five years.

Ian Morris, pharmaceutical advisor for Darlington Primary Care Trust (PCT), said: "If his doctor had known, he could have tackled the fact that the man had not wanted to take them."

Darlington PCT is one of the lowest spending authorities in the region, but still has to find £13 million a year to provide drug cover. That figure is going up at the annual rate of 14 per cent - almost six times the rate of inflation.

Expensive new medication for heart conditions accounts for £1.4m alone, with cholesterol-reducing drugs costing around £380 per person per year.

More than a third of over-75s take four or more medications a day while, occasionally, some patients can be taking more than 30 different medications a day.

PCT chief executive Colin Morris said: "GPs are doing some very high quality prescribing in line with national guidelines. They are making robust improvements in people's lives and helping them live longer. But the consequence of this is we are spending a lot more money than allocated.

"The chairman of the PCT's prescribing sub-committee, GP David Russell, added: "I don't think people realise how much the drugs they take really cost.

"Over 80 per cent of patients don't pay for their prescriptions. Even those who do pay contribute £6.20, yet the drugs could cost three times that much.

"Often patients will tick everything on the repeat prescription even though they still have enough at home."

Health officials are urging the public to help by:

* Discussing with their GP whether they still need the medicine.

* Only ordering a repeat of the medication they are running out of.

* Buying some of the more common, over-the-counter tablets such as paracetamol and aspirin instead of getting them on prescription.

* Taking along their medication when going into hospital

* Improving lifestyle to avoid getting ill.