Managing medicines in hot weather

Few places are escaping the heat right now, and it’s important to ensure you’re storing and managing your medications properly. Dr Neil Hamilton, Consultant Pharmacist in PH, has this advice:

“Hot weather can cause problems for your medicines if you are not extra careful. Any medicines (which includes drops, inhalers, sprays, epipens and liquid medicines – not just tablets and capsules) must ideally be stored below 25c/77f.

You should keep them in a cool, dry area away from direct sunlight. Close curtains/blinds and keep the medicines in cupboards away from the windowsills. Do not leave your medicines in parked vehicles or warm travel bags and use a cool bag if necessary.

Extreme heat or extreme humidity (why you should not keep medicines in the bathroom/shower room cupboard) are likely to make the medicine less effective or reduce its shelf life. Medicines that need to be kept in the fridge should be out of the fridge as little as practically possible.

Please note that temperature and humidity fluctuations can also affect sensitive devices like blood glucose monitors and test strips, leading to unreliable readings, so please also be careful with these.”