AQW 10174/22-27

Mr Danny Donnelly
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 16/04/2024
Answered On Date: 30/04/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail the value of drugs returned to pharmacies to be destroyed in (i) 2020-21; (ii) 2021-22; and (iii) 2022-23.

Answer:

Medicines that patients return to community pharmacies in Northern Ireland are sent for safe destruction in sealed containers and, as such, it is not possible to definitively assess the value of the medicines inside. However, it has been estimated that medicines wasted in Northern Ireland are valued at £18 million annually.

Despite being unable to provide you with information about the value of medicines returned and destroyed I am able, however, provide the following information about the cost for the safe destruction of medicines returned to community pharmacies in Northern Ireland:

Year	Cost of destruction
2020-21	£426,790.82
2021-22	£529,468.18
2022-23	£625,436.14