A heated health hazard

Summer is well and truly here and I was recently reminded of an important piece of health advice we should be passing on to our patients in this hot and humid weather. I was rummaging in the cupboard under the basin in the downstairs toilet - I had a headache and I knew I had some paracetamol in there somewhere. I eventually found them in the plastic box that is my first aid kit. The expiry date on the package was still valid, but when I popped them out of the bubble pack something clearly was not right. The tablets were crumbly and soft, and my initial, if somewhat irrational, thought was that I had been sold counterfeit drugs.