ZOOM Pharmacy’s Din Redzepagic on why nearly a third of New Zealanders don’t take their meds — and what it’s costing our health system.
It’s an astonishing figure: about 30% of all New Zealanders prescribed medicines by their doctors either don’t take their medicines as directed or don’t pick up their prescriptions at all.
Reported in separate New Zealand studies, that fact is constantly front of mind for those at ZOOM Pharmacy, a free* medicine delivery service for Kiwi patients pioneered back in 2017.
Din Redzepagic, ZOOM’s Pharmacy Director, says there are two major repercussions arising from that remarkable 30% segment of our society.
Firstly, people who haven’t taken their medicines will likely have worsened health outcomes; and secondly, the major effect those worsened outcomes have on New Zealand’s already strained health system.
ZOOM’s business plan is built around delivery of medicines to those who need them, particularly those with chronic conditions (diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, cardiovascular issues) requiring long-term medications.
Redzepagic can see a near future where 10-15% and “maybe more” of New Zealand’s medicines will be delivered directly to patients.
The alternative – the continuance of 30% of patients not taking their meds – is both alarming and unacceptable, he says.
“The fact is that people who don’t take their medicines will have to go to hospital more than those who do – they will be in hospital for longer, they have a greater risk of dying,” says Redzepagic.
“Whereas those who take their medicines will have shorter stays in hospital and are much more likely to make a full recovery.”
It’s called Medicines Adherence (MA) and it’s a global concern. Research on the cost of poor MA in New Zealand is scarce, but one recent study estimated Europe suffers a $244 billion health bill annually, plus 200,000 untimely deaths, as countries cope with the result of prescription non-compliance.
ZOOM has made a dent in poor MA in New Zealand, according to one nationwide study of 218,000 people taking diabetes medicines. Its delivery service, the biggest of its kind in New Zealand, helped produce the highest MA among that group at 82.6%
So who are the Kiwis not taking their medicines – and why not?
“About a third are those who see their doctor and take their medicines as required,” Redzepagic says. “Another third take some of their meds – they might spin out a three-month course to four months, for example, or forget. Finally, there is about a third who never, ever present to a pharmacy.
“Some people – particularly in low socio-economic sectors – are put off by the costs. It might be the $5 co-payment charge, or it might be indirect costs like having to take time off work and waiting for 40 minutes, petrol costs and the like.
“I have worked in low socio-economic areas and believe me, some people just say, ‘Sorry, can’t afford it’.”
The New Zealand Medical Journal published a 2024 study showing that people unable to collect a prescription because of cost had a 34% higher adjusted rate of hospitalisation – at an estimated cost of $32.4 million a year.
“There are another group of people who, having seen their doctor, immediately Google their condition and their medications,” he says. “They can get put off by the side effects, for example; ‘Dr Google’ can be really scary, so some people don’t take their meds.”
There are other reasons. Transport is one – the farmer in an outlying region who must travel 60km to his nearest pharmacy, the Pasifika males who do not like discussing or revealing their condition and simply opt out, or the elderly person unable or unwilling to get to a pharmacy.
ZOOM has based its delivery services on making it easy for patients to get and take their medicines.
“We looked at how to eradicate the barriers stopping people from MA,” says Redzepagic. “So we first got rid of the $5 co-payment and packaging and shipping costs. Then we got rid of the indirect costs by delivering to people’s doors – home, work or bach, it doesn’t matter.
“We also looked at how we engage with patients. If you like to communicate by text but we keep calling you by phone, you will drop off [from taking the medicines]. It’s about making it easier to live a healthy life.”
Redzepagic says the only way is up for New Zealand MA and ZOOM.
“We’ve only been going since 2017-18 while the UK [delivery service], for example, has been around since 1999 and is serving a large proportion of patients. The US, according to one study, is delivering medicines to 25% of all patients.”
Delivery services in New Zealand are nowhere near that level but are growing fast.
Redzepagic says there is another compelling reason for patients to opt for medicines delivery: the number of people accessing pharmacies is growing steadily (1.8 million a month as at September 2025) but community pharmacy numbers are dwindling as competition affects revenue levels.
“More and more people are trying to access fewer pharmacies in their regions – particularly in rural and South Island communities.
“Yet we had the World Health Organisation saying back in 2002 that it is all very well to have all these blockbuster medicines these days – but not if people simply don’t take them.”
*ZOOM’s Monthly Medicines Service is free for Kiwis taking 3+ daily medicines. T&Cs and eligibility criteria apply, as assessed by a ZOOM Pharmacist.