This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
GPs guilty of ‘substantial inappropriate antibiotic prescribing’
New research published by Public Health England has said that GPs are increasing the threat of antimicrobial resistance by wrongly giving antibiotics to one in five patients who have a cough or sore throat.
According to the research, of the 32.5 million antibiotics GPs in England prescribe every year, ‘at least’ 6.3 million are unnecessary, fuelling the belief that doctors are displaying ‘substantial inappropriate antibiotic prescribing’.
Examining GP records, a panel of experts found that only 10 per cent of patients with an acute cough should be given antibiotics, but revealed that 41 per cent of patients were given the drugs. Furthermore, ideally only 13 per cent of people with a sore throat should get antibiotics, but 59 per cent did when they visited a GP, and while antibiotics are only justified in 13 per cent of bronchitis cases, 82 per cent of sufferers were given them.
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