Non‐prescription drug use by patients aged 65 and over in Northern Ireland was assessed. Sixteen community pharmacists collected data on 515 elderly patients who purchased non‐prescription drugs, using a short structured interview. The patients most commonly purchased oral analgesics (17.5 per cent), cough preparations (14.8 per cent) and laxatives (11.5 per cent). Almost one quarter (23.9 per cent) were already taking a prescribed medication for the same condition. Only one half of the latter patients (49.6 per cent) discussed nonprescription drug use with their general medical practitioner.Patients' main reasons for the purchase of non‐prescription medicines were: symptoms were not severe enough to visit their doctor, convenience of the pharmacy and the product had been used before. Patients who presented to their pharmacist with either gastrointestinal or pain symptoms were found to be twice as likely as patients with other symptoms to be taking a prescribed drug for the same condition(s) (P<0.001). Since elderly patients are more susceptible to adverse drug reactions, health care professionals must endeavour to obtain a complete medication history from