practical living
stockpiling unwanted medicines and the
concerns surrounding disposal.
ACI: What are some of the potential
health risks associated with stockpiling
unwanted medicines?
Bad medicine
Clean out your medicine
cabinets, but do so
safely, researchers say.
Amanda Wheeler interviewed
by Dallas Bastian
A
ustralians are stockpiling
unused medicines and it could
cause harm, a recent survey
has found.
Sixty per cent of respondents said
they had unwanted medicines in their
household. Most were keeping them just in
case they were needed again.
Of the medicines stored, a third
were expired.
Lead researcher Professor Amanda
Wheeler from Griffith University said
while keeping some medicines to use for
20 agedcareinsite.com.au
reoccurring conditions, like migraines
or asthma, is appropriate, others can be
dangerous, as expired medicines may
no longer be effective and accidental
ingestion could cause harm.
The research, published in Australian
Health Review, also explored the disposal
of medicines and found many people
were simply pouring them down the sink
or toilet or throwing them in the rubbish.
Wheeler said this poses environmental
risks and can have negative impacts
on humans.
Only 17.6 per cent of respondents had
heard of the Return Unwanted Medicines
(RUM) project, although, once informed,
nine out of 10 said they would use it.
The study’s authors said the survey
provides important insights for health
professionals. “It is important for those
health professionals who assist consumers
to manage their medicines to have
strategies in place that routinely identify
potential stockpiling and inform consumers
about appropriate methods of medicines
disposal,” they wrote.
Aged Care Insite spoke with Wheeler
to discuss the health risks associated with
AW: Well, I think most of us have medicines
that we no longer need or that have
expired in our bathroom cabinets and
kitchen cupboards. But storing unwanted
medicines in the home can be dangerous.
Expired medicines may no longer be
effective, and if medicines end up in the
wrong hands, they can cause harm from
accidental ingestion.
In 2015, the Australian Poisons
Information Centre reported that more
than 5000 children ended up in hospital
due to medicine poisonings in Australia,
and in the same year they had over 30,000
calls to the poisons centre relating to
children who had unintentionally been
exposed to medicines. That’s for young
people, but another vulnerable group is
older people. They’re often taking quite a
number of medicines, and if they have lots
of no longer needed medicines at home,
this can sometimes lead to medication
mix-ups, accidental ingestion of medicines
they weren’t supposed to be taking, or
even doubling up of doses, because it
could become quite confusing, so those
are the main risks.
When is it appropriate to keep unused
medicines, and which medicines pose
the most risk when kept in a cupboard or
drawer for future use?
I think keeping medicines for recurring
conditions like migraines or angina, or
for an asthma reliever medication, is
appropriate. What you need to do is check
the expiry dates and make sure you know
when they’re about to expire, and then
when they do expire, take them to the
pharmacy, discard them, and get a new
prescription from a GP and a new supply.
Just keep a check on those medicines.
I think often we put things in cupboards
and we don’t go back and check what
the expiry date is, or how much we
have accumulating in the cupboard, or
multiple cupboards.
Antibiotics are something I think people
will keep – they may not have finished a
course, or they think they’ll keep them
in case they get an infection another
time – but really antibiotics target a
specific infection, and if you get another
infection, it’s best to see your doctor and
get him or her to check whether you need