Worst-performing
GP surgeries hand out twice as many drugs for coughs and colds, finds Public
Health England and UCL
The Guardian, Press Association, Tuesday 5 August 2014
Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said doctors face 'enormous pressure' to prescribe antibiotics unecessarily. Photograph: Martin Godwin |
More must
be done to curb unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics, experts said after a
study published on Tuesday found that the number of patients given the drugs
for minor ailments has soared in recent years.
Researchers
found that, in 2011, 51% of patients were given antibiotics for coughs and
colds, up from 36% in 1999.
This is
despite the government issuing guidance in 1998 warning GPs not to prescribe
antibiotics for "simple" coughs and colds.
Health
experts from around the world have warned of the ever-growing threat of
antibiotic resistance – which has been fuelled by unnecessary prescribing.
The new
research, from Public Health England (PHE) and University College London, also
found there was "substantial variation" in prescribing among GP
surgeries.
After
examining data concerning patients registered with 537 UK GP practices, they
found that some practices were twice as likely to give a prescription for
coughs and colds as those who dished out the fewest. In 2011, the
best-performing practices gave about 32% of patients antibiotics for coughs and
colds compared with 65% in the worst-performing GP surgeries.
The study,
published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, also found significant
variation in the proportion of female patients given a type of antibiotic for
urinary tract infections (UTIs).
During
2011, 16% of these patients in some practices were prescribed a short course of
trimethoprim while 70% were given the drug in other parts of the country.
The authors
said the "extensive variation" between practices showed
"significant scope to improve prescribing".
Lead author
Professor Jeremy Hawker, a consultant epidemiologist at PHE, said:
"Although it would be inappropriate to say that all cases of coughs and
colds or sore throats did not need antibiotics, our study strongly suggests
that there is a need to make improvements in antibiotic prescribing.
"Previous
research has shown that only 10% of sore throats and 20% of acute sinusitis
benefit from antibiotic treatment, but the prescription rates we found were
much higher than this. The worry is that patients who receive antibiotics when
they are not needed run the risk of carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria in
their gut. If these bacteria go on to cause an infection, antibiotics will then
not work when the patient really does need them."
Commenting
on the study, Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:
"Antibiotics are very effective drugs, as long as they are used
appropriately. But we have developed a worrying reliance on them and GPs face
enormous pressure to prescribe them, even for minor symptoms which will get
better on their own or can be treated effectively with other forms of
medication.
"Our
patients and the public need to be aware of the risks associated with
inappropriate use of antibiotics and how to use them responsibly.
"This
study reinforces the message that we issued recently for frontline health
professionals to resist pressure from patients for unnecessary prescriptions
and explore alternatives to them."
David
Cameron said in July that resistance to antibiotics was a "real and worrying threat" as he pledged to put Britain at the forefront of the
fight against drug-immune bacteria threatening to send medicine "back to
the dark ages".
Last year,
England's chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said resistance to
antibiotics was one of the greatest threats to modern health. She stressed that
many of the drugs were being used unnecessarily for mild infections which
should not be treated with antibiotics, helping to fuel resistance.
Related Article:
"Recalibration of the Human Being" – Jan 7, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text Version)
"... The Common Cold
You're going to catch more colds. Why would that be? But then you're going to heal them quicker - and why would that be? The Human cold has always been a recalibration of the biological process. To catch a cold is needed, and that is why you cannot "cure" it. You must go through it. The common cold is a cyclical opportunity for the immune system to correct itself. Perhaps you didn't know that? That's why you're not going to receive the chemistry to cure the common cold. It's a recalibrating device within you. It builds up the system in a certain way that helps you, and it must be reoccurring. Don't be shocked when you catch one, and say, "Well, I didn't think that would happen because I just got through with the other one." It's recalibration. .."
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