Dr Thomas Groves makes some good points about the huge waste of NHS drugs in this country. Drugs worth millions of pounds end up being destroyed every year in the UK.
May I draw readers' attention to an excellent registered charity, Inter Care, which collects selected returned patient medicines from GP practices and, after appropriate quality controls, recycles them free of charge to a network of more than 100 health centres in six desperately poor countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Getting involved is easy. Our practice keeps a cardboard box in reception, into which we put returned drugs. When it is full, we seal it, stick on a downloadable label and phone the free courier to collect it.
Patients have welcomed this scheme as many of them want to see returned drugs used rather than destroyed. Further information and posters can be downloaded at www.intercare.org.uk.
From Dr Fiona Underhill
South Woodford, London
