UK GPs prescribing fewer antibiotics

16 February 2001

General practitioners in England and Wales appear to have responded to aDepartment of Health campaign started two years ago to reduce the country's National Health Service prescribing of antibiotics for conditions such as coughs, colds and viral sore throats.

Figures released by the Prescription Pricing Authority revealed that total antibiotic prescribing dropped by around 3 million scripts between June 1999 and June 2000. Also, there has been a definite trend for GPs to prescribe three-day courses of trimethoprim, rather than five-day regimens, as recommended by the DoH's Standing Medical Advisory Committee.

Moreover, patients are making fewer requests for antibiotics to treat coughs, colds or sore throats, according to a study by Gaynor Bresnen of the Liverpool John Moores University School of Pharmacy and Chemistry, reported by the Pharmaceutical Journal. Over a third of GPs interviewed said that patients were more willing to leave without a prescription for an antibiotic to treat a cough or cold, and over half said that they were seeing significant reductions in requests for antibiotics. However, one in 10 said that 75%-100% of patients with a sore throat still expected an antibiotic to be prescribed.

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