Good Housekeeping (UK)

IN MY SURGERY: TAKE YOUR MEDICINE

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With all the recent publicity around NHS

spending, I was struck by a survey from online pharmacy Pharmacy2u that shows almost half of Brits regularly forget to take their medication. One in three respondent­s had stopped altogether when they developed side-effects, and one in five didn’t even start taking their medication when they read about possible side-effects.

Where the younger generation are concerned, more than one in six stopped medication early when it affected socialisin­g and more than one in five because they wanted to drink alcohol.

The cost of ‘non-adherence’ isn’t just financial – although it’s estimated at nearly £113bn (€125bn) a year across Europe. It also costs lives, with up to 20,000 people dying early every year in the UK as a direct result of not taking regular medication as they should.

Remember, we doctors prescribe medication for a reason. Most side-effects affect only a tiny proportion of people and need to be weighed against the risks of not taking it. If in doubt, ask

your pharmacist.

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