Can You Take a Family Member's Prescription Medicine?

No. Prescription medicine is only for the person it is prescribed to, and taking someone else's can cause real harm. Prescribed medicines should only be used by the people for whom they have been prescribed¹, and the advice from NHS services is blunt: if it is not prescribed for you, do not take it, ever².

If you have run out of your own medicine, the answer is not a relative's leftovers. It is a pharmacist. If you run out of your regular medicine and your GP practice is closed, there are ways to get an emergency supply³, and pharmacists can help with minor illnesses and also give you an emergency supply of some medicines if you have run out⁴. Contact NHS 111 by phone or use its online emergency prescription service, and it will tell you which pharmacy to go to⁵.

The same rule applies in reverse: do not hand your own medicines to anyone else, and do not keep medicines that are no longer needed. Those with quantities of out-of-date or no longer used prescribed medications are encouraged to dispose of them safely by returning them to their GP practice or local pharmacy⁶.

The law says prescription medicine is only for the person it is prescribed to

The principle is simple and it runs through all NHS advice: prescribed medicines should only be used by the people for whom they have been prescribed¹. Take medication exactly as prescribed⁸, and set a positive example by taking your medications only as prescribed⁹. This is not a technicality. A prescription records a decision about one person's condition, their other medicines, their age and their kidney and liver function. None of that transfers to you.

The law sits behind this in a particular way. Advertising any prescription medication to the public is banned in the UK¹⁰. The decision about who takes what belongs with a prescriber, not with a household swapping supplies.

There is one practical exception that people often confuse with sharing: collection. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency advises that if you are unwell or unable to collect your prescription, you should arrange for a family member to collect it for you¹¹. Collecting a prescription for someone is fine. Taking their medicine is not.

If you are prescribed medicine and the weather turns hot, keep taking it. You should continue taking all of your prescribed medicines unless advised not to by a medical professional¹². The same applies in an emergency: the answer to disruption is to protect your own supply, not to borrow someone else's. Our guide to keeping enough prescription medicine at home sets out how to do that.

Why someone else's medicine can harm you

Taking someone else's medicine can cause severe allergic reactions, dangerous interactions with other medications, overdose and poisoning, organ failure, and death². That list is not a worst case invented to frighten people; it is the standard warning from NHS medication safety campaigns, and it applies to ordinary-looking tablets as much as to anything stronger.

Interactions are the part most people underestimate. Make sure you seek advice from a pharmacist if you are taking other medications as they can interact with each other¹³. Apply caution around taking multiple medicines that have the same or similar ingredients, for example many medicines for coughs and colds contain paracetamol; ask at your local pharmacy if you are unsure¹⁴. A borrowed painkiller plus your own cold remedy can add up to more of the same ingredient than you intended.

Some medicines carry specific risks that make sharing especially dangerous. If you take anti-seizure medication, you should not take any other medicines, including over-the-counter or complementary medicines such as St John's Wort, without speaking to your GP or epilepsy specialist, as they could interact dangerously and cause a seizure¹⁵.

Running out of your own medicine: get an emergency supply from a pharmacist

Running short is a common and understandable problem, and there is a proper route through it. If you run out of your regular medicine and your GP practice is closed, there are ways to get an emergency supply³. If you already have a prescription and urgently need the medicine, you can get it from any pharmacy as long as they have it in stock; some pharmacies are open until midnight or later, even on public holidays¹⁶.

There are two slightly different routes, and it helps to know which one you are on:

• You have a prescription already. Take it to any pharmacy that stocks the medicine¹⁶.
• The prescription has not reached the pharmacy. In the rare case that a prescriber cannot get a prescription to the community pharmacist quickly enough, a community pharmacist may issue an emergency prescription at the request of the prescriber⁵.
• You are not sure what to do. Contact NHS 111 by phone or use the online emergency prescription service, and NHS 111 will tell you which pharmacy to go to or direct you to an urgent care centre⁵. Pharmacists can help with minor illnesses and also give you an emergency supply of some medicines if you have run out⁴.

Two limits matter. Many controlled medicines, such as morphine or diamorphine, cannot be supplied without a prescription by a pharmacist in an emergency⁵. Only a few controlled medicines can be prescribed in an emergency, such as those for epilepsy, and only up to 5 days supply can be given⁵.

The out-of-hours service is not a repeat prescription service: it is for urgent medical problems only, and providing repeat medication may delay treatment of patients with an acute problem¹⁷. Plan ahead rather than relying on it. Our guide to running out of prescribed medicine walks through the pharmacy route in more detail.

When NHS systems are down: getting your prescription during an outage

Power cuts, IT failures and shortages can all interrupt the normal route from GP to pharmacy. The first thing to know is that the pharmacy network is wider than your usual shop: if you already have a prescription and urgently need the medicine, you can get it from any pharmacy as long as they have it in stock¹⁶. If one pharmacy cannot help, ask another.

During a national medicines shortage, your pharmacy or GP may ask you to do one of several things: go to another pharmacy to collect your medicine; accept a different formulation, such as a tablet instead of a capsule; accept a smaller quantity so you need to collect more often; or go back to your GP for a new prescription for an available medicine if the pharmacy and GP cannot sort it over the phone¹⁸. None of these means you should substitute something from your own cupboard. Our guide to medicine shortages explains why they happen.

If anyone in your household depends on powered medical equipment, the planning is different and needs doing before an outage. If you use medical equipment that requires a power supply, make a plan with your care provider or clinical care teams now about what will happen in a power cut; the plan should set out what action you or someone you care for needs to take and who to contact if there is a power outage¹⁹. Speak to your care team to put a plan in place for what action to take and who you can ring 24/7 if there is a device-related problem during a power outage²⁰. If a medical device needs water to function, talk to your care team and make a plan for a water outage²¹.

Keeping your household's medicines ready for an emergency

The aim is not a stockpile. It is a small, current, findable supply that covers the gap between running low and getting more. Follow prescribing directions²³, and order repeats in good time rather than building up leftovers.

Emergency planning guidance across the UK is consistent about what to keep together:

• Medication in the household emergency pack²⁴.
• Prescription medications and glasses if required in the emergency kit²⁵.
• Essential medication and a first aid kit at home in case of an emergency²⁶.
• Your medicines and insurance documents to hand²⁷.
• Your medication and, if possible, any medical equipment, taken with you if you have to leave²⁸.

If you care for someone, write it down. A carers' emergency plan should include how you support your loved one, their needs including details of any medications they need to take and where these are stored²⁹. That single line is what lets a neighbour, a relative or a paramedic help properly if you are not there.

For anyone whose medicine is life-sustaining, there is a specific question worth answering in advance: if there were a 7-day disruption in access to that medication, how would you manage⁷? Write the answer down, including which pharmacy you would try and who could collect for you.

Our medicine cabinet checklist covers the over-the-counter items worth keeping, and storing medicines safely covers temperature, children and expiry dates.

Giving medicines to children, and other household traps

Children are where household medicine mistakes most often happen. Check medicines and doses with your pharmacist and read the instructions carefully before giving anything to your child³¹. Always give medicines to young children yourself instead of letting them take it²³. If a child is distressed or uncomfortable with flu, give paracetamol or ibuprofen, checking the packaging or leaflet or speaking to a pharmacist or GP if unsure³². What you must not do is halve an adult tablet on guesswork.

Antibiotics deserve their own line. Do not share antibiotics with others or take antibiotics that were not prescribed to you¹⁰, and follow the advice of a professional on how to take antibiotics that have been prescribed to you, taking the correct dose at the right times and completing the prescribed course¹⁰.

Disposing of what you no longer need is part of keeping the household safe. Those with quantities of out-of-date or no longer used prescribed medications are encouraged to dispose of them safely by returning them to their GP practice or local pharmacy⁶. After a flood, dispose of contaminated food or medicines safely; you can take your medicine to a pharmacy for disposal, or your vet can dispose of any contaminated medicine for your pet³³. Our guide to disposing of unused medicines has the detail.

Where to get urgent help with medicines

Pharmacists are the most underused source of help here. In some cases pharmacists can also help get you emergency medicine³⁴, and they can advise on interactions between medicines you are already taking¹³. GP appointments are available seven days a week in the evening, on weekends and on bank holidays³⁴, so a medicine problem on a Sunday is not automatically an out-of-hours problem.

If you have been in hospital, ask what support is available on discharge: in some areas this includes accessing medicine, collecting and delivering prescriptions from a pharmacy or supermarket³⁵. Arrangements differ across the UK, so ask your own hospital team what applies where you live.

For anything beyond first aid, or if you are unsure whether a symptom is serious, our guides to NHS 111 and when to call 111 and when to call 999 set out which service fits. If a relative is older, disabled or medically dependent, extra help in an emergency covers the support available to them.