CANCER drugs campaigner Clive Stone said last night it was a “crying shame” unused prescription drugs are costing the NHS in Oxfordshire more than £7m a year.

When drugs are returned to pharmacies by patients, they have to be destroyed, regardless of whether they have been opened.

The Department of Health estimates that this policy is costing Oxfordshire NHS Primary Care Trust £7.5m a year – or 10 per cent of the trust’s annual budget for prescription drugs.

Mr Stone, 61, from Freeland, near Witney, led a campaign for kidney cancer patients to be prescribed Sunitinib by the PCT, said: “I recently had my fourth operation, to remove cancerous tissues, and I was given four different types of painkillers, which I didn’t use.

“I appreciate what the nursing staff are trying to do for me, but I told them I didn’t like taking painkillers and would try to do without them after the operation “The issue about the supply of Sunitinib on the NHS was all about a lack of funding, and I think it’s a crying shame that so much money is being wasted in this way.

“Cancer patients – all patients – would back the PCT’s efforts to increase efficiency when it comes to prescription drugs.”

Laura Tully, the PCT’s prescribing adviser, said it had carried out an audit of pharmacies to work out the amount of unused medicines that were being returned.

Ms Tully said: “There’s a variety of reasons why medicines might go unused. Most common would be when a medicine is changed by the doctor, either because of side-effects or if the medicine isn’t effective. Another key factor would be the stockpiling of medicines in a patient’s home – this is a problem, because they go out of date and then can’t be used.

“It’s important to note that unused medicines, even those returned to the pharmacy unused, cannot be recycled or reused and must be destroyed.”

To try to cut waste, the NHS has implemented a 28-day prescribing policy, with patients given only a four-week supply of medication at any one time.