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During a recent prescribing forum it became apparent that the policy in one of the care homes was to dispose of all medication after a maximum of two months. This included items supplied in the manufacturers original packs prescribed on a ‘when required’ basis such as paracetamol tablets and ispaghula sachets.
In addition to the cost to the NHS of providing replacement medication on each occasion, there are concerns that a prescriber could assume the patient had been taking the original medication regularly and in the case of continuing symptoms additional medication may be prescribed.
Recommendations on the In-use shelf lives of medicines have therefore been produced.
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