Unused or out of date medicine can pose a serious danger in the home. Over the next few weeks, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, together with Cork County Council, Cork City Council and Kerry County Council, is asking the public to use a free service to dispose of their medications safely.
Unused or out-of-date medicines can build up in the home for a variety of reasons. Storing these medications long-term is not safe and can result in accidental poisonings, intentional overdose, inappropriate sharing of medicines and environmental damage.
The ‘Dispose of Unused Medicines Properly’ (DUMP) campaign, which commenced on Monday and runs until Friday, April 22nd, sees almost all pharmacies in Cork and Kerry taking part.
This campaign allows the public to bring unused or out of date medicines to participating pharmacies to ensure that they are disposed of properly.
The DUMP campaign has run successfully in Cork and Kerry since 2007. In 2018, more than 280 bins, containing more than four tonnes of medicines, were safely disposed of as part of this important campaign.
To find more important information regarding safe storage of medications, visit the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) website – www.cdc.gov/patientsafety
