More than £1m of medicines are wasted in south and west Oxfordshire every year -- enough to pay for 36 district nurses or 200 hip replacements.

NHS managers are now urging patients to use their prescriptions properly.

South West and South East Oxfordshire Primary Care Trusts have launched a joint campaign with leaflets and posters highlighting the issue in pharmacies and GP surgeries.

The PCTs will this year spend £34m on prescriptions -- about 13 per cent of their joint £265m budget, but about three per cent of the drugs are never used.

Sian Hills, head of prescribing for the PCTs, said one of the key problems was repeat prescriptions, where people ordered new batches of a drug they used on a regular basis.

She said: "We're asking patients to order only what they need and to tell their GP if their needs change. Some people keep collecting their repeat prescriptions out of habit -- even when they don't need it any more.

"Medicines cannot be reused once they have been dispensed.

If not taken by the person they were prescribed for, they must be destroyed, even if they haven't been opened."

The PCTs' campaign will also focus on how to store, use and dispose of medication safely.

Ms Hills said: "The aim is to help patients make better use of their prescription medicines, to ensue they are using them safely and to help the local NHS to use its resources more effectively."