AQW 10174/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Health
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.
Asked by Danny Donnelly MLA on 16 April 2024
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 16 April 2024
- Answer due by
- 1 May 2024
- Answered
- 30 April 202414 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Health
- Priority question
- No
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 |