Your Medicines Your Health
Vision
Our vision for Your Medicines, Your Health (YMYH) is that everyone in Wales who uses medicines — whether prescribed, supplied by a healthcare professional or purchased — feels confident to take and manage them in a way that supports the best possible health outcomes and helps reduce medicines waste.
Mission
Our mission is to encourage and empower people to have open, honest conversations with healthcare professionals about their medicines, including how they take them and any questions, concerns or difficulties they may have. We want people to understand why, how and when to take their medicines so they can get the greatest benefit from them. YMYH also encourages people to order only the medicines they need, when they need them, helping to prevent stockpiling, reduce waste and support the safe disposal of unwanted medicines.
Background and context
Medicines can make a real difference to people’s lives, helping them stay as healthy and independent as possible. However, people do not always take medicines in the right way. This can reduce the benefit they receive, affect their health and wellbeing, and increase pressure on health and social care services if their condition worsens. Unused or unwanted medicines also carry a financial cost and can have an environmental impact when they are wasted or not disposed of appropriately.
The World Health Organization (WHO) report, Adherence to long-term therapies – evidence for action, highlights that poor adherence to long-term therapies can lead to poorer health outcomes and increased healthcare costs. It also recognises that improving adherence requires a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach.
YMYH supports people to be more involved in conversations and decisions about their medicines. It encourages open and honest dialogue with healthcare professionals, particularly when people have concerns, experience difficulties, or feel they may need to make a different choice about their treatment.
YMYH aligns closely with the All-Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) Strategy for Wales 2024-2029 – Improving the health and well-being of people in Wales by enabling patients to get the best outcomes from their medicines. The strategy sets out a broad range of objectives across eight goals, including two that are particularly relevant to YMYH:
- Goal 6 - People in Wales take their medicines in a way that maximises their health outcomes.
- Goal 7 - Waste associated with medicines use is reduced and sustainability is improved.
A network of YMYH champions within health boards and communities will help bring these messages to life by raising awareness, sharing resources and supporting conversations about safe, effective and sustainable medicines use. If you would like to find out more or become a YMYH champion, please contact awttc@wales.nhs.uk.
We will continue to add practical resources to this website, so please visit again for the latest information and materials.
Your Medicines Your Health resources:
Additional resources:
Patient information leaflets covering a variety of subjects and available in English, Welsh and easy read formats can be found here.