If you have out of date or unwanted medicines, both prescription or over the counter drugs, don’t bin them or flush them.
You can take your unwanted or out of date medicines back to your pharmacy for safe disposal, and it’s completely FREE.
Each year enormous quantities of unused and expired medications are dumped into bins or flushed down toilets and sinks. The effects on the environment and human health are unclear but evidence is pointing to the presence of chemicals from prescriptions and over-the-counter medications in soil, drinking water and the surrounding environment. Just as proper medication administration is important, so is safe and cautious disposal.
Unused prescription medicines cost the NHS across the UK over £300 million every year.
£300 million could pay for:
- 80,906 MORE hip replacements*
- 101,351 MORE knee replacements*
- 19,799 MORE drug treatment courses for breast cancer*
- 11,778 MORE community nurses*
- 300,000 MORE drug treatment courses for Alzheimer’s*
*Based on average costs
You can help by only ordering the medicines that you need:
- Please let your GP or Pharmacist know if you’ve stopped taking any of your medicines
- Check what medicines you still have at home before re-ordering
- Discuss your medication with your GP or Pharmacist on a regular basis
- Think carefully before ticking all the boxes on your repeat prescription forms and only tick those you really need
- If you don’t need the medicine please don’t order it! If you need the medicine in the future you can still request it.
- If you need to go into hospital, please remember to take all your medicines with you in a clearly marked bag.
- Please also remember that your medicines are prescribed only for you; it’s not safe to share them with anyone else.
Remember that unused medicines cannot be recycled
- Even if you never open them, once medicines have left the Pharmacy, they cannot be recycled or used by anyone else.
- Please bring your unused medicines to the Pharmacy for safe disposal.
- NEVER dispose of your unused or unwanted medicines down the toilet
Unused medicines are a safety risk
- Return out of date medicines to your pharmacy or dispensary for safe disposal
- If your medicines change – return your old medicines to the pharmacy for safe disposal to avoid mixing them up with your new medicines
- Don’t stockpile medication – it is a safety risk for children and others who might take them
- Store medicines in an appropriate place out of reach of children
For more information on Medicines Waste please visit http://www.medicinewaste.com/
We offer an Emergency Contraception Service (Morning After Pill).
We will need to see the person that the emergency contraception is intended for and the pharmacist will need to ask a few questions regarding medical history in our private consultation room. Your Pharmacist is a medical professional and everything discussed is in complete confidence, there is no need to give your name or any personal details such as your address.
Below is a link to the questions your pharmacist will need ask before they issue the emergency contraception. If you prefer you can complete the on-line questionnaire which you can print out and hand this in to the pharmacist when they ask to talk to you.
This Service is supported locally by the NHS and FREE of Charge
About Emergency Contraception (Levonelle One Step)
It’s a fact of life that accidents happen with contraception. Perhaps you have forgotten to get your next injection? Maybe you have been sick and you’re wondering if the Pill will still work? Possibly you were using a condom and something went wrong?
If you’ve had unprotected sex or you’re worried about having had a contraception mishap, this part of the site will tell you everything you need to know about Levonelle® One Step, (a morning after pill or emergency contraceptive pill) including how soon you need to take it and what happens when you ask for it at the pharmacy.
If you think you may need emergency contraception it’s important to act quickly – within hours rather than days.
Levonelle® One Step has been available since 2004 and is the only morning after pill available to buy from most pharmacists. Levonelle® One Step can be taken up to 3 days (72 hours) after unprotected sexual intercourse or a contraception mishap.
There are also alternative emergency contraceptives available from your doctor.
What is Levonelle® One Step?
Levonelle® One Step is also known as ‘the morning after pill’ but you can take it up to 3 days (72 hours) after a contraception mishap to prevent pregnancy. There is 1 round white tablet in the pack. It contains a hormone called levonorgestrel.
The earlier you take Levonelle® One Step the more likely it is to work, so it’s important to act quickly, in hours rather than days.
If you are over 16, you can buy Levonelle® One Step over the counter at most pharmacies throughout the UK. The pharmacist will ask you a few questions first to make sure it’s suitable for you. You can answer the questions here and print out the form to hand to the pharmacist if you prefer.
If you are under sixteen, you cannot buy Levonelle® One Step at the pharmacy and need to see a healthcare professional or go to a family planning clinic or Walk-In Centre.
How does Levonelle® One Step Work?
Levonelle® One Step is thought to work in different ways depending on where you are in your cycle. For example:
- It may stop an egg being released from the ovary (i.e. prevents ovulation)
- It may prevent sperm from fertilising any egg that may already have been released
- It may stop a fertilised egg from attaching itself to the lining of the womb
Levonelle® One step works to prevent a pregnancy becoming established but it will not work if you are already pregnant. The sooner you take Levonelle® One Step the more likely it is to be effective.
Emergency contraceptive pills are not meant to be used as a regular method of contraception. If you’re sexually active, whether you have sex occasionally or frequently, you need to choose a regular long-term method of contraception that suits you. You should discuss long-term options with a healthcare professional.
What Happens At the Pharmacy?
If you want to be sure that your pharmacy stocks Levonelle® One Step emergency contraception you can phone first. Just ask for Levonelle® One Step.
When you get to the counter, the pharmacist has to ask you a few questions to make sure that Levonelle® One Step is suitable for you. You can answer the questions here and print out the form to hand to the pharmacist if you prefer. This gives you more privacy, and saves time, too.
All pharmacists are very knowledgeable about emergency contraception and should treat your request sympathetically and confidentially.
If the pharmacist feels that Levonelle® One Step may not be suitable for you, he or she will advise you to see your healthcare professional or family planning clinic who will tell you what to do next
Your pharmacist can help you:
- Take care of your health when travelling
- Carry your medicines safely when travelling
- Know what precautions to take before travelling
If you or your children don’t pay for prescriptions you can use the NHS Minor Ailments service to get advice and medicines free of charge from the Pharmacy.
If you have an exemption card please bring it with you.
We may be able to help with:
- skin conditions, such as mild eczema
- coughs and colds, including nasal congestion and sore throat
- soft tissue Injury
- constipation
- Conjunctivitis
- hay fever and allergies
- aches and pains, such as headaches, earache and backache
- indigestion and diarrhoea
- thrush
- warts and verrucas, mouth ulcers and cold sore
Don’t forget your pharmacist should be your first point of contact for many conditions and can offer advice and treatment there ans then without the need for an appointment.
The pharmacist can also help you decide whether you need to a doctor.
This is both an NHS & a Private Service
You are eligible to receive a free NHS flu jab if you:
- are 65 years of age or over
- are pregnant
- have certain medical conditions (see below)
- are living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facility
- receive a carer’s allowance, or you are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if you fall ill
- are a healthcare worker with direct patient contact or a social care worker (see below)
If you are not eligible under the list above you can still have a private flu jab. Speak to your nearest branch for pricing information.
Flu vaccination by injection, commonly known as the “flu jab” is available every year on the NHS to protect adults (and some children) at risk of flu and its complications.
Flu can be unpleasant, but if you are otherwise healthy it will usually clear up on its own within a week.
However, flu can be more severe in certain people such as:
- anyone over the age of 65
- pregnant women
- children and adults with an underlying health condition (particularly long-term heart or respiratory disease)
- children and adults with weakened immune systems
Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it’s recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to protect them.
How the flu jab works
Studies have shown that the flu jab definitely works and will help prevent you getting the flu. However, it won’t stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary between people, so it’s not a 100% guarantee that you’ll be flu-free.
Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases and flu strains often change. So, new flu vaccines are produced each year which is why people advised to have the flu jab need it every year too.
Flu jab side effects
Serious side effects of the injected flu vaccine are very rare. You may have a slight temperature and aching muscles for a couple of days after having the jab, and your arm may be a bit sore where you were injected.
When to have a flu jab
The best time to have a flu vaccine is in the autumn, from the beginning of October to early November, but don’t worry if you’ve missed it, you can have the vaccine later in winter if there are stocks left.
Read More
NHS Choices can give more information on the flu jab, the potential side effects, and who should not have the flu jab here.
If you are prescribed a medicine to treat a long-term condition for the first time, you may be able to get extra help and advice about your medicine from your local pharmacist through a new free scheme called the New Medicine Service (NMS).
People often have problems when they start a new medicine. In this scheme the pharmacist will support you over several weeks to use the medicine safely and to best effect.
The service is only available to people using certain medicines. In some cases where there is a problem apparent and a solution cannot be found between you and the pharmacist, you will be referred back to your doctor.
We can help you quit smoking for good. As a health care professional your stop smoking advisor is ideally placed to help you through the quitting process from advice and tips on how to break the habit and also guidance on NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) products, such as gum, patches and many more, to help you when the urge just gets too much.
Your stop smoking advisor can talk through a quit plan with you in confidence and help advise you on the best method for success in quitting smoking. It’s never too late to see health benefits from quitting and your pharmacist can outline the great advantages of giving up. Talk to your stop smoking advisor today and start to feel better, healthier and happier.
Advice from your stop smoking advisor on quitting smoking is completely free and we will be happy to help in any way we can so you can quit with confidence. Please visit us in-store or contact us for further details
If you have out of date or unwanted medicines, both prescription or over the counter drugs, don’t bin them or flush them.
You can take your unwanted or out of date medicines back to your pharmacy for safe disposal, and it’s completely FREE.
Each year enormous quantities of unused and expired medications are dumped into bins or flushed down toilets and sinks. The effects on the environment and human health are unclear but evidence is pointing to the presence of chemicals from prescriptions and over-the-counter medications in soil, drinking water and the surrounding environment. Just as proper medication administration is important, so is safe and cautious disposal.
Unused prescription medicines cost the NHS across the UK over £300 million every year.
£300 million could pay for:
- 80,906 MORE hip replacements*
- 101,351 MORE knee replacements*
- 19,799 MORE drug treatment courses for breast cancer*
- 11,778 MORE community nurses*
- 300,000 MORE drug treatment courses for Alzheimer’s*
*Based on average costs
You can help by only ordering the medicines that you need:
- Please let your GP or Pharmacist know if you’ve stopped taking any of your medicines
- Check what medicines you still have at home before re-ordering
- Discuss your medication with your GP or Pharmacist on a regular basis
- Think carefully before ticking all the boxes on your repeat prescription forms and only tick those you really need
- If you don’t need the medicine please don’t order it! If you need the medicine in the future you can still request it.
- If you need to go into hospital, please remember to take all your medicines with you in a clearly marked bag.
- Please also remember that your medicines are prescribed only for you; it’s not safe to share them with anyone else.
Remember that unused medicines cannot be recycled
- Even if you never open them, once medicines have left the Pharmacy, they cannot be recycled or used by anyone else.
- Please bring your unused medicines to the Pharmacy for safe disposal.
- NEVER dispose of your unused or unwanted medicines down the toilet
Unused medicines are a safety risk
- Return out of date medicines to your pharmacy or dispensary for safe disposal
- If your medicines change – return your old medicines to the pharmacy for safe disposal to avoid mixing them up with your new medicines
- Don’t stockpile medication – it is a safety risk for children and others who might take them
- Store medicines in an appropriate place out of reach of children
For more information on Medicines Waste please visit http://www.medicinewaste.com/
We offer an Emergency Contraception Service (Morning After Pill).
We will need to see the person that the emergency contraception is intended for and the pharmacist will need to ask a few questions regarding medical history in our private consultation room. Your Pharmacist is a medical professional and everything discussed is in complete confidence, there is no need to give your name or any personal details such as your address.
Below is a link to the questions your pharmacist will need ask before they issue the emergency contraception. If you prefer you can complete the on-line questionnaire which you can print out and hand this in to the pharmacist when they ask to talk to you.
This Service is supported locally by the NHS and FREE of Charge
About Emergency Contraception (Levonelle One Step)
It’s a fact of life that accidents happen with contraception. Perhaps you have forgotten to get your next injection? Maybe you have been sick and you’re wondering if the Pill will still work? Possibly you were using a condom and something went wrong?
If you’ve had unprotected sex or you’re worried about having had a contraception mishap, this part of the site will tell you everything you need to know about Levonelle® One Step, (a morning after pill or emergency contraceptive pill) including how soon you need to take it and what happens when you ask for it at the pharmacy.
If you think you may need emergency contraception it’s important to act quickly – within hours rather than days.
Levonelle® One Step has been available since 2004 and is the only morning after pill available to buy from most pharmacists. Levonelle® One Step can be taken up to 3 days (72 hours) after unprotected sexual intercourse or a contraception mishap.
There are also alternative emergency contraceptives available from your doctor.
What is Levonelle® One Step?
Levonelle® One Step is also known as ‘the morning after pill’ but you can take it up to 3 days (72 hours) after a contraception mishap to prevent pregnancy. There is 1 round white tablet in the pack. It contains a hormone called levonorgestrel.
The earlier you take Levonelle® One Step the more likely it is to work, so it’s important to act quickly, in hours rather than days.
If you are over 16, you can buy Levonelle® One Step over the counter at most pharmacies throughout the UK. The pharmacist will ask you a few questions first to make sure it’s suitable for you. You can answer the questions here and print out the form to hand to the pharmacist if you prefer.
If you are under sixteen, you cannot buy Levonelle® One Step at the pharmacy and need to see a healthcare professional or go to a family planning clinic or Walk-In Centre.
How does Levonelle® One Step Work?
Levonelle® One Step is thought to work in different ways depending on where you are in your cycle. For example:
- It may stop an egg being released from the ovary (i.e. prevents ovulation)
- It may prevent sperm from fertilising any egg that may already have been released
- It may stop a fertilised egg from attaching itself to the lining of the womb
Levonelle® One step works to prevent a pregnancy becoming established but it will not work if you are already pregnant. The sooner you take Levonelle® One Step the more likely it is to be effective.
Emergency contraceptive pills are not meant to be used as a regular method of contraception. If you’re sexually active, whether you have sex occasionally or frequently, you need to choose a regular long-term method of contraception that suits you. You should discuss long-term options with a healthcare professional.
What Happens At the Pharmacy?
If you want to be sure that your pharmacy stocks Levonelle® One Step emergency contraception you can phone first. Just ask for Levonelle® One Step.
When you get to the counter, the pharmacist has to ask you a few questions to make sure that Levonelle® One Step is suitable for you. You can answer the questions here and print out the form to hand to the pharmacist if you prefer. This gives you more privacy, and saves time, too.
All pharmacists are very knowledgeable about emergency contraception and should treat your request sympathetically and confidentially.
If the pharmacist feels that Levonelle® One Step may not be suitable for you, he or she will advise you to see your healthcare professional or family planning clinic who will tell you what to do next
Your pharmacist can help you:
- Take care of your health when travelling
- Carry your medicines safely when travelling
- Know what precautions to take before travelling
If you or your children don’t pay for prescriptions you can use the NHS Minor Ailments service to get advice and medicines free of charge from the Pharmacy.
If you have an exemption card please bring it with you.
We may be able to help with:
- skin conditions, such as mild eczema
- coughs and colds, including nasal congestion and sore throat
- soft tissue Injury
- constipation
- Conjunctivitis
- hay fever and allergies
- aches and pains, such as headaches, earache and backache
- indigestion and diarrhoea
- thrush
- warts and verrucas, mouth ulcers and cold sore
Don’t forget your pharmacist should be your first point of contact for many conditions and can offer advice and treatment there ans then without the need for an appointment.
The pharmacist can also help you decide whether you need to a doctor.
This is both an NHS & a Private Service
You are eligible to receive a free NHS flu jab if you:
- are 65 years of age or over
- are pregnant
- have certain medical conditions (see below)
- are living in a long-stay residential care home or other long-stay care facility
- receive a carer’s allowance, or you are the main carer for an elderly or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if you fall ill
- are a healthcare worker with direct patient contact or a social care worker (see below)
If you are not eligible under the list above you can still have a private flu jab. Speak to your nearest branch for pricing information.
Flu vaccination by injection, commonly known as the “flu jab” is available every year on the NHS to protect adults (and some children) at risk of flu and its complications.
Flu can be unpleasant, but if you are otherwise healthy it will usually clear up on its own within a week.
However, flu can be more severe in certain people such as:
- anyone over the age of 65
- pregnant women
- children and adults with an underlying health condition (particularly long-term heart or respiratory disease)
- children and adults with weakened immune systems
Anyone in these risk groups is more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as pneumonia (a lung infection), so it’s recommended that they have a flu vaccine every year to protect them.
How the flu jab works
Studies have shown that the flu jab definitely works and will help prevent you getting the flu. However, it won’t stop all flu viruses and the level of protection may vary between people, so it’s not a 100% guarantee that you’ll be flu-free.
Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases and flu strains often change. So, new flu vaccines are produced each year which is why people advised to have the flu jab need it every year too.
Flu jab side effects
Serious side effects of the injected flu vaccine are very rare. You may have a slight temperature and aching muscles for a couple of days after having the jab, and your arm may be a bit sore where you were injected.
When to have a flu jab
The best time to have a flu vaccine is in the autumn, from the beginning of October to early November, but don’t worry if you’ve missed it, you can have the vaccine later in winter if there are stocks left.
Read More
NHS Choices can give more information on the flu jab, the potential side effects, and who should not have the flu jab here.
If you are prescribed a medicine to treat a long-term condition for the first time, you may be able to get extra help and advice about your medicine from your local pharmacist through a new free scheme called the New Medicine Service (NMS).
People often have problems when they start a new medicine. In this scheme the pharmacist will support you over several weeks to use the medicine safely and to best effect.
The service is only available to people using certain medicines. In some cases where there is a problem apparent and a solution cannot be found between you and the pharmacist, you will be referred back to your doctor.
We can help you quit smoking for good. As a health care professional your stop smoking advisor is ideally placed to help you through the quitting process from advice and tips on how to break the habit and also guidance on NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) products, such as gum, patches and many more, to help you when the urge just gets too much.
Your stop smoking advisor can talk through a quit plan with you in confidence and help advise you on the best method for success in quitting smoking. It’s never too late to see health benefits from quitting and your pharmacist can outline the great advantages of giving up. Talk to your stop smoking advisor today and start to feel better, healthier and happier.
Advice from your stop smoking advisor on quitting smoking is completely free and we will be happy to help in any way we can so you can quit with confidence. Please visit us in-store or contact us for further details
Coseley
West Midlands
WV14 9DD