Many Australians have a stack of paper prescriptions stuffed in a drawer or at the bottom of a cupboard – either leftover repeats or scripts that haven't been filled but are yet to expire.

Now a leading expert on drug resistance has suggested that in numerous cases, prescriptions for antibiotics should not be offered on repeat, nor handed over with a lengthy, 12-month expiry.

Many of us have some scripts stashed away. Credit:Louie Douvis

It comes after evidence tens of thousands of patients could be hoarding their scripts and using them months later to treat an unrelated illness. In other cases, patients are receiving repeats for antibiotics when it is not medically required.

Professor Karin Thursky, director of the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship, said a review of longstanding drug prescriptions at a Melbourne aged-care facility unearthed a resident who had been on antibiotics for more than a decade.