Households in England are being advised to put medicine in the fridge this week – to protect it from the UK’s ongoing searing heatwave.
Given that the Met Office has forecast temperatures will rise and rise all this week, until a peak of 30C on Saturday, the UKHSA has issued a yellow heat health alert for seven regions of England. The UK Health Security Agency has issued advice to help households deal with the hot weather which include the common tips like shutting windows in the heat, staying indoors during the peak of the day and spotting the signs of heat stroke.
But among the list of advice from the UKHSA is guidance around medication. Some medicines need to be stored in temperatures below 25C, or they could be rendered ineffective.
It urged people to continue taking medications ‘unless advised not to’ by a doctor or other professional, but that you may need to store them in the fridge.
The UKHSA said: “You should continue taking all of your prescribed medicines unless advised not to by a medical professional. If you have any health concerns, please call NHS 111. Some medications need to be stored below 25°C or in the fridge, following the storage instructions on the packaging.”
The website Medication Training gives more detail on the issue.
It says: “Most medicines come with directions from the manufacturer to store below 25C. Some state store below 30C. When you look at temperature logs in those care homes that have been recording room temperatures, they are mostly below 25C, but they may spend the odd day at 26, 27 or maybe 28C during the summer months. Is this a problem? Let’s look at some background here.
“Medicines slowly start to break down and degrade after they are manufactured. For most medicines it takes years for them to break down and become less active. When they reach a certain percentage of their initial activity (say, 90%) that’s when the expiry date is set.
“…The rate of breakdown of the medicine is usually affected by heat and humidity. Basically, the hotter and wetter it is, the quicker the medicine breaks down. Going back to the aspirin example, if aspirin was stored at say, 32C for 5 years and 3 months it might be only 75% active at its expiry date. Again, these aren’t actual figures, they just illustrate the point.”
It added: “What’s important is the length of time that the medicine is stored at these higher temperatures.”
It stressed that a few days at higher temperatures is not likely to be an issue. But it suggests that over long periods of hot weather, it could be more of a factor especially if your room temperature is consistently above 25C.