Being involved in decisions about your medicines

Information for the public

Almost everyone is given a prescription for a medicine at some time, but some people don't use their medicines as prescribed. Sometimes this is because they are worried about the medicine and don't want to use it, sometimes they don't understand why they need it and sometimes they have practical problems (such as fitting medicine-taking into their routine).

Healthcare professionals can help you as a patient to make choices about treatment by involving and supporting you in decisions about medicines:

before any medicine is prescribed
over the course of your treatment.