Antibiotic Use at Stansted Surgery
As a surgery, Stansted is an outlier in the prescribing of antibiotics. When we look at our number of prescriptions for antibiotics vs those of neighbouring surgeries of similar size to us, it is clear that we are not doing well enough in the National quest to fight antibiotic resistance. We want to work towards improving this.
What is antibiotic resistance?
Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria no longer respond to treatment, causing serious complications, including bloodstream infections and hospitalisation. Taking antibiotics encourages harmful bacteria that live inside you to become resistant. That means that antibiotics may not work when you really need them.
What do local statistics for antibiotic prescribing look like?
**Total antibiotic prescriptions per patient**
*National average – 0.209 antibiotic prescriptions per patient/year *
Stansted Surgery 0.296
Neighbouring practices of similar size and with similar demographics:
Neighbour A 0.248 (Uttlesford)
Neighbour B 0.234 (Uttlesford)
Neighbour C 0.248 (Uttlesford)
Neighbour D 0.235 (Uttlesford)
Neighbour E 0.205 (Uttlesford)
How will be improve, and why is it important that we improve?
We will need patient support and understanding to get better at antibiotic prescribing, and we want to manage patient’s expectations. You may see or speak to a GP in the future expecting a prescription for antibiotics, but be asked to self-care initially. Please click on the leaflets below for some information to help you self care.
It is important that we work together against antibiotic resistance. There are no new antibiotics, and the ones we have is our only defence against managing and treating serious infections. If we do not reduce our antibiotic prescribing as a surgery, and antibiotic intake as individuals, we may find ourselves in trouble in the future. Please be assured that this campaign is not driven by cost. This is about a much wider Public Health concern. In cases where antibiotics are clinically needed, it will be prescribed as usual.
For more information about this campaign, please see https://antibioticguardian.com/keep-antibiotics-working/
