Nurse prescribers and other health professionals are being asked to pledge to combat antibiotic resistance, as part of PHE's <a href="http://antibioticguardian.com/">Antibiotic Guardian</a> campaign.
Nurse prescribers and other health professionals are being asked to pledge to combat antibiotic resistance, as part of PHE's Antibiotic Guardian campaign.
The campaign is part of PHE's participation in European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) on 18 November, which aims to raise awareness about antibiotic resistance and strategies to limit its impact.
The Antibiotic Guardian pledge campaign invites healthcare professionals to commit to proactively tackling antibiotic resistance. Some examples of pledges for primary care prescribers are: 'I will undertake one of the recommended CPD activities on the EAAD resources page and 'When I see a patient with a self-limiting illness, I will discuss methods of controlling symptoms instead of prescribing antibiotics'. The pledge is also open to members of the public, to encourage wider awareness and more responsible use of antibiotics by patients.
Dr Diane Ashiru-Oredope, Lead for EAAD 2014 at Public Health England, said: 'Everybody can help to tackle antibiotic resistance and we really urge people to help us do this. There is a lot to be done but we can start by making inroads into inappropriate prescribing.'
EAAD is part of the UK 5 Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013 to 2018, which aims to slow the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Resistance to antibiotics is a rising problem, as antibiotics are increasingly unable to treat common conditions. A study published in the BMJ in September found that 15.4 per cent of antibiotics fail to treat the illness they were prescribed for.