RESIDENTS are being urged to clean out their medicine cupboard and back a Droitwich Spa drugs amnesty.

Unwanted prescription pills, creams and dressings will be accepted for one week in June, no questions asked, at collection centres across the town.

Organisers claim the yearly cost of wasted prescription drugs in Droitwich totals £100,000. It is now hoped the amnesty will help discourage stockpilers.

Droitwich Spa Forum for Older People is co-ordinating the drive, with support from South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, Spa GPs and pharmacists, and the police.

Forum health chief Sheila Neary said: "Lots of people are entitled to repeat prescriptions but they must be careful not to hoard pills and treatments they do not need.

"It's estimated that £100,000 is wasted in this way.

"If we are all more careful, a massive chunk of this money could be saved and spent in other vital areas - such as on hip replacements or cataracts operations."

During Monday, June 2 to Friday 6, amnesty supporters will have a choice of five venues to attend between 10am and 3pm.

The week will begin at The Spring Meadow, Primsland Way, before respectively moving onto Emmanuel Church, Lullowfield House, The Old Library Centre and Westlands Community Hall.

"I must make it clear that we do not want people to go short and you must still collect the prescription drugs that you need," added Sheila.

Picking up the tab

"However, I hope it will make people realise that while we can receive drugs from our doctor for free, or by paying the standard fee, drugs are not cheap for the health authority and it's the public purse that picks up the tab."

The older peoples' forum, based at One Stop Shop, in High Street, had hoped the drugs could be recycled or sent to the Third World. However strict health regulations mean the surplus medicines must be destroyed.

A Primary Care Trust spokeswoman praised the forum's initiative and said a similar scheme operated across South Worcestershire in 2002.

She told the Advertiser: "We had a good response then, although it is difficult to measure because we don't know exactly what people have got tucked away on their first aid box.

"The key aim is to raise awareness among the public about the cost of carrying on accepting repeat prescriptions when they are no longer needed."