Islanders urged to cut back on waste after pharmacy service cost more than £21 million

Islanders are being asked to avoid unnecessary prescriptions as it cost nearly £22 million to run the island's pharmacy last year. Credit: ITV Channel

The number of prescriptions dispensed in Guernsey rose to 1.6 million last year, according to a report published by the island's Prescribing Support Unit.

This was an increase of 1.2% on the amount given out in 2021.

Almost £22 million was spent running the island's pharmacy service in 2022, which also increased compared to the previous year.

Geraldine O’Riordan from the service urged the public to cut down on requesting medication they don't need to keep costs down.

She said: "A major role of the PSU is to reduce medicines wastage, so I would appeal to islanders to continue to cross off unwanted items on prescriptions.

"If a medicine has been completely stopped, it is very important to tell your doctor so that it will not be prescribed next time," she added.

The PSU cautioned about wastage in other areas such as people being unnecessarily prescribed antibiotics.

It warned against different formulations of "generic medicine" being charged at an inflated price.

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