(2) pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2007, Official Report, columns 1104-05W, on the NHS: drugs, what progress has been made on commissioning research to establish the extent of medicines waste and the complex and varied reasons for it.
The Department has made no assessment of the effectiveness of local anti-wastage drug practice in primary care trusts. However, we intend to commission new research on the scale, costs and causes of waste medicines to inform policy development for influencing both health professionals and members of the public to reduce the amount of unwanted medicines. A research specification is under development.