A new NHS campaign has been launched to make patients in the UK aware of the cash they are throwing away by ordering more medicine than they need.

Thousands of posters and leaflets have been distributed in the north-east of Scotland to stop people from wasting their prescription medication.

Unused medication costs NHS Grampian £9 million each year - the equivalent of paying for 12,600 cataract operations or 1,260 heart bypass procedures.

Caroline Hind, interim director of pharmacy for NHS Grampian, said: "Wasted medicines means wasted money."

She added: "Medicines returned by patients can't be used again and any money saved could be reinvested in other areas of healthcare to benefit the local community.

"We're encouraging anyone with unused medicine to take it back to the pharmacy for safe disposal."

According to ehow.com, expired medication is a major cause for concern and it is best to dispose of all medicine which has exceeded its expiration date.