Wasted medicines cost NHS at least £480m a year and could fill 75 Olympic-size swimming pools

Wasted medicines are costing the NHS in England at least £480million a year, according to an investigation by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which found that 3,400 tonnes of partially used medicines were disposed of in 2024/25. The waste matters because once a medicine leaves a pharmacy, even if unused and unopened, it cannot be returned to stock and must be destroyed through specialist, costly disposal processes rather than general waste, diverting funds from patient services and posing environmental and public health risks, including antimicrobial resistance from leftover antibiotics.

The volume of waste is equivalent to filling 75 Olympic-size swimming pools, or the weight of 560 African elephants or 3,000 cars. The NPA, which analysed freedom of information responses from local health bodies, is urging patients not to over-order repeat prescriptions and calling for more frequent medicine reviews for those on multiple prescriptions. NPA chairman Olivier Picard and Dr Rasha Abdelsalam Elshenawy of the University of Hertfordshire both stressed the safety implications, including the risk of unfinished antibiotic courses being taken later without medical advice. NHS England said it is helping people manage prescriptions via its app and running local campaigns to reduce medicines waste.