New trial results in £92,000 savings of prescriptions costs

A new trial launched by Public Health England (PHE) and the Behavioural Insights Team, has found that writing to GPs about their antibiotics prescribing has resulted a direct savings of £92,000 in the cost of unnecessary prescriptions.

The trial involved over 1,500 GP practices and is part of the government’s plan to slow the growth of antimicrobial resistance. The result of the project meant that there had been a 3.3 per cent reduction in antibiotics prescribing, around 73,000 fewer prescriptions.

The trial involved both GPs and patients. GPs were sent a letter citing ’80 per cent of practices in your local area prescribe fewer antibiotics per head than yours’. The letter also provided three ways to make sure antibiotics prescriptions were necessary. Patients were also sent leaflets and posters were put up with information about why reducing the use of antibiotics is important.

Figures from the trial revealed that GPs who received the letter reduced their rate of antibiotic prescriptions to 127 per 1,000 compared to 131 per 1,000 for GPs who did not receive the letter. However, there was no recorded change in the rate of antibiotic prescriptions in the patient targeted group.

Professor Dame Sally Davies of the PHE said: “We know that drug resistant infections are one of the biggest health threats we face. This innovative trial has shown effective and low cost ways to reduce unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics which is essential if we are to preserve these precious medicines and help to save modern medicine as we know it.”