Chairmans Blog: Throwing out the good with the bad?

A  patient returned a bag of medication yesterday...a whole load of out of date medication and some controlled drugs to destroy.
 
Today, the same patient rang and said "can I have my old medication back please - I need the antibiotics and the tamoxifen"
 
Well, she didn't get them - and we referred her back to the GP to discuss her needs...we explained that returned medication is professionally disposed of in a timely manner (we don't keep it lying around!)
 
It's amazing how she ended up with expired antibiotics in the first place and the fact that she wanted to take expired tamoxifen doesn't bear thinking about??
 
Unwanted or out of date medication should be promptly returned to a pharmacy for destruction! 

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