Dear Co-campaigners (because in this shared cause you are more than supporters). Here is the letter I have sent to Mathew Hancock, copied to our local MP, Ben Wallace, and to the Health Minister, Nadine Dorries. The number of signatories, including those who have signed on paper, is over 900 now. With the ongoing kerfuffle over Brexit I don't expect a response for some time but I will be following it up after a reasonable amount of time.

Matt Hancock MP
Secretary for State
Department of Health and Social Care
39 Victoria Street
London SW1H OEU

From
Prema Taylor (Mrs)

1st October 2019

Dear Mr Hancock

Petition to Launch a Nationwide Campaign to
Reduce the Waste of NHS funds in unused
Medicines and Equipment

Over the last two years two close members of my family have suffered serious health issues, exacerbated in both cases by delays in diagnosis and failings in the quality of care during hospitalisation. The reasons have always been 'shortages of resources' with some nurses working 14 hour shifts. How they can be relied on to function properly and make critical life and death decisions on such long shifts simply defeats me. On at least one occasion one relative was given medication meant for another patient - fortunately he was alert enough to refuse to take it.
Our NHS is a precious resource and I appreciate that funds are being poured into it to attempt to maintain and enhance the quality of care. However I have witnessed first hand the level of avoidable waste in terms of unused medication and equipment - I believe an estimate in 2015 was £300 million just in wasted medication and this figure has almost certainly gone up. I believe we all have a collective responsibility to reduce waste and preserve existing resources. To this end I have started a petition on Change.org and attach the link for you to have a look
http://chng.it/PDLCHdQM
You will see the number of supporters (over 750) I have managed to collect despite not being very adept with social media. There are also a number of people on my city who support the petition but are not able to sign the e petition as they do not use computers. Additionally members of the NHS and Pharmacy workers agree with my petition but are afraid to sign in case of repercussions.
I am requesting you to launch a fresh nationwide campaign to educate the public and health and care workers to take all reasonable steps to reduce the waste of prescription medicines. Previous campaigns have been launched, with great success, in certain regions, but those were some years ago. Something as simple as checking your bag of medicines before leaving the Pharmacy premises. Any unwanted or erroneously dispensed medication can be returned to the shelves provided it has not been taken outside the premises - even if the patient has taken one step outside the door the medicines have to be destroyed. I am also requesting you to look at the BMI guidelines for reuse of medication. Whereas I accept that any medication that has been in a patient's home for a length of time cannot be re-used as it may not have been stored properly, in cases where the medication has been handed back immediately (within 24 hours - sometimes minutes) it should be possible to re-use or donate it to overseas aid agencies. Also medication kept in controlled conditions in Care Homes and Hospitals. There are also several ways to re-use certain items. Animal rescue charities will gratefully accept unused syringes, dressings, eye wash etc. Needle exchanges will accept syringes. Homeless shelters will accept food supplements. Overseas aid charities and charities for the elderly in this country will accept certain equipment - particularly mobility aids.
The topic of waste is constantly in the news. So is the issue of funding for the NHS. There are daily stories of funding being refused for medicines for life threatening illnesses, closure of facilities, lack of funding or loss of funding for certain support organisations. I sincerely believe we have a collective responsibility to do everything we can to alleviate the pressure on the NHS. But people need to be educated before they can participate. The majority of people I have spoken to were not aware that the medicines they hand back to the Chemist are destroyed or that the total cost of waste of NHS funds was so high.
I don't believe the subject of my petition is something that needs to be discussed in Parliament and is within your powers to authorise. Whilst the issue of Brexit is dominating the news, and dividing the country, we all agree that life has to go on and the sick still need a flourishing, not just surviving, NHS. I very much hope you will agree to implement a nationwide campaign of awareness and look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

(PREMA TAYLOR - MRS)