Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making it Government policy to permit pharmacies to re-allocate unopened pharmaceuticals to other patients to help tackle wastage.

The Department does not promote the reuse of medicines returned from patients once it has left a pharmacy. It is not possible for pharmacists to assure the quality of returned medicines on physical inspection alone. They cannot guarantee that the medicines have been stored or handled appropriately and this can impact on patient safety.