Only Order What You Need Posted or Updated on 26 Feb 2026

Only Order What You Need

Do you have a repeat prescription? This is why it’s important to only order what you need.

The NHS in Coventry and Warwickshire have launched a new medicine waste campaign that aims to reduce the number of medicines that are prescribed unnecessarily.

It is estimated that approximately 1.6 million items of medicine are wasted unnecessarily in Coventry and Warwickshire each year, which equates to around £13.3m.

This annual figure equates to:

• 2,300 knee replacements
• 39,000 rounds of chemotherapy
• 345,000 GP appointments
• 8,316,780kg of carbon dioxide emissions

People with repeat prescriptions are being asked to check what medication they have at home and to ‘only order what they need’ when they place their next order.

You can help reduce waste and resources by taking some simple steps:

1. Check what medicines you have at home before you order your repeat prescription and only order what you need – you will still be able to order other items again in future.
2. Check your bag before you leave the pharmacy – if there are any items that shouldn’t be in there, then these can be reused, provided they are returned before you leave the pharmacy.
3. Speak with your pharmacist if you have stopped taking any medication or if they are no longer right for you.

Doing any of these things will help reduce medicine waste, allow money to be used more effectively by the NHS and reduce the impact on the environment too.

It’s not just the health service that will benefit. Stockpiling medicines at home can also cause other issues. Checking medication before ordering can help people:

• Stay well – Unused medicines expire and might not work as we want them to. Keeping big stocks of medicines at home can also make drug shortages worse.
• Stay safe – Having big stocks of medicines at home be a danger to pets and children. People are also being reminded that medicines are only prescribed for them and should not be shared.
• Stay green – The best way to manage medicine waste is to give it to a pharmacist, which stops it polluting rivers and waterways. Medicines also cannot be recycled or used by anyone else once they have left the pharmacy.

To find out more, please visit the Happy Healthy Lives Website below.

Only order what you need - Your medication - Happy Healthy Lives

Image Text: Repeat prescriptions (tick). Only order what you need. If you have enough medicine at home, there's no need to order now – you can request more in the future. Happyhealthylives.uk/yourmeds