Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the use of non-prescribed medication.

With proper support from health professionals, such as pharmacists and general practitioners, non-prescribed medicines like Pharmacy (P) or General Sale List (GSL) medicines available ‘over the counter’ play a significant role in helping people take more responsibility for their own health.

This allows the National Health Service to focus its resources on treating more complex conditions and make better use of busy emergency and urgent care services and general practitioners’ time and expertise.

Medicines should always be obtained from a registered community or internet pharmacy or other reputable retail outlets.