This week's blog is from Costas Vasiliou, who discusses a new regional medicines waste campaign

Posted on: 18 July 2025

The ‘Only order what you need’ campaign aims to educate patients or those ordering prescriptions on their behalf on the impact of over-ordering and stockpiling prescription medicines.

Hi everyone

I’m Costas Vasiliou, a Senior Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist at the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. I’m also the Chair of the West Yorkshire pharmacy network for sustainability and the environment.

I’m delighted to be sharing a blog with you to tell you more about the ‘Only order what you need’ campaign and why a local collaborative response to a local and national issue was needed.

Only order what you need

An estimated £18 million is wasted locally every year on unused prescribed medicines including creams, inhalers and pain medications. By patients (including ourselves) only ordering what they need, it helps NHS resources go where they are most needed instead of waste and reduce the environmental impact of healthcare.

About the campaign

Medicines waste is a vital issue to the NHS, but the general public are often not aware of the full scale. When medicines are requested inaccurately (by people or their representatives), waste accumulates that inconveniences people, poses a safety risk and contributes to medicines shortages. These are real issues seen on a day-to-day basis across our health system and felt by our population.

Alongside the financial impact, there is also the environmental cost from medicines that are prescribed but not taken, through both the waste of the medicine itself and the wasted resource to produce and supply the medicine. We must ensure resources are used wisely and where they are most needed, this includes a substantial amount of staffing time particularly for the prescription clerk and pharmacy teams.

Medicines waste is complex and due to a variety of reasons, of which not all are avoidable. However, we can all make small contributions to the factors within our control which combine to make a significant difference, starting with only ordering what we need.

Environmental impacts

25% of the NHS carbon footprint is related to medicines. Medicines can also contribute to water pollution, plastic waste and air pollution. The NHS is committed to working with the public and its providers to reduce the growing threat to human health posed by climate change and our impacts on the environment. You can read more about this at Greener NHS. 

The Partnership has an aspiration to be a leader in the delivery of environmentally sustainable health and social care. The West Yorkshire pharmacy network for sustainability and the environment, which I chair, feel very strongly about reducing medicines waste to help us work towards this ambition. We strive to deliver the highest quality care to people with the lowest environmental impact. Avoidable medicines waste is a key opportunity to reduce the impact on our environment from the life cycle of medicines production, supply and destruction. Unfortunately, medicines are currently not able to be re-used once they have left the pharmacy counter, so it is vital to support people to order only the medicines they need before this happens. Medicines require specific storage conditions to ensure they remain safe, effective and in their original condition. This cannot be guaranteed once out of the pharmacy’s control. There are also national legal frameworks preventing medicines returned to community pharmacies from being re-supplied.

Pharmacy colleagues across West Yorkshire have been working together to reduce medicines waste across healthcare. One element was to commission an independent piece of local research across the region that gave us an insight into people’s behaviours and attitudes towards medicine waste to help inform this work. You can read the report here.

How can partners support the campaign?

It has been great to see this campaign come to fruition and launch across West Yorkshire. We would very much appreciate colleagues and partners supporting wherever possible. You can do this in several ways.

If you work in a health and care setting, a range of promotional materials and supporting information is available to download on the Partnership website. You can also share the campaign online by visiting the Partnership’s pages on Facebook, X (Twitter) and LinkedIn.

For more information and simple steps patients can take to help reduce medicines waste please visit the website wypartnership.co.uk/orderwhatyouneed

Thank you for reading. Have a great weekend.

Costas

What's been happening this week?

West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board

The West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board met in public on 15 July. A recording of the meeting is available on the Partnership website.

MY Hospitals Charity achieves national recognition thanks to creative campaigns and community support

MY Hospitals Charity, which supports Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust and its local communities, has been shortlisted for Fundraising Team of the Year at the 2025 Charity Times Awards, in recognition of an exceptional year of growth, innovation and community spirit.

Donations to the charity help to fund projects that go above and beyond what the NHS alone can provide and enhance healthcare for the 500,000 people served across Wakefield, Pontefract and Dewsbury. In just 12 months, the small but creative fundraising team has transformed the charity’s visibility and impact, increasing donations by more than 70%. Read more on the Trust website.

Airedale neonatal work shortlisted for national award

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust’s Neonatal Unit has been shortlisted for a 2025 Nursing Times Award.

The awards aim to shine a light on the brightest talent in the nursing profession and recognise the incredible contributions made by colleagues across a wide range of nursing specialities, from mental health to midwifery.

The unit’s work around providing psychological care for neonatal families and babies affected by substance abuse has been shortlisted in the Children’s Services category which celebrates innovative projects that improve outcomes for children from birth to adolescence. Read more on the Trust website.

West Yorkshire leads the way supporting long COVID recovery

A ground-breaking rehabilitation initiative is helping people with long COVID return to work and reclaim their lives and is now being scaled up as part of West Yorkshire’s Healthy Working Life programme.

Developed by the three NHS trusts in Bradford District and Craven in response to the rise in long COVID-related illness, the vocational rehabilitation programme brings people together in virtual group sessions and one-to-one support. It helps them manage symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog and anxiety.

The programme has delivered remarkable results. Of those who were off sick and not working before joining, 93% successfully returned to work and stayed employed. Additionally, 98% of people at risk of leaving their jobs were able to remain in their roles. We are now extending the approach to support people with a wider range of long-term or multiple health conditions.

This activity is part of Healthy Working Life, a joint programme of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. See our Healthy Working Life case study pages to find out more.

Campaign relaunch aims to help more young pregnant women quit smoking

Following a national drop in smoking during pregnancy, we have relaunched the #MumsCan campaign - a targeted initiative to support young pregnant women to stop smoking and give their babies the best possible start in life.

The relaunch comes in response to the latest NHS figures showing smoking at the time of delivery has fallen to a record low of 6.1% nationally. However, in some parts of West Yorkshire, rates remain above this average.

See our MumsCan website pages and news pages for all the details

Fellowship programme report 2025

The West Yorkshire Fellowship programme has just published its annual report for 2025. The Fellowship Programme is a leadership development programme for our colleagues from ethnically diverse backgrounds from health and social care organisations across West Yorkshire. Find out more on the Partnership website.