NHS GPs handing out less antibiotics over fears they increase untreatable superbugs
- Health leaders warned bacteria are becoming immune to prescribed drugs
- Number of prescribed antibiotics in England fell by 7.3 per cent in last year
- Series of apocalyptic warnings said new breeds of superbugs are emerging
- Claimed by 2050 more people would die from superbugs than from cancer
Ben Spencer Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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Family doctors have stopped prescribing so many antibiotics, after a barrage of apocalyptic warnings that they are driving an epidemic of superbugs.
The number of antibiotics prescribed by GPs in England fell by a 7.3 per cent in the last year, according to health watchdog NHS Improvement, from 37.3million in 2014/15 to 34.3million in 2015/16.
Health leaders have warned that overprescribing of antibiotics means that bacteria are evolving to become immune to the drugs, with new breeds of untreatable superbugs emerging all the time.
Family doctors have stopped prescribing so many antibiotics, after a barrage of apocalyptic warnings that they are driving an epidemic of superbugs (file image of antibiotics)
Last week Government advisor Lord O’Neill warned that if we do not tackle the problem more people will be killed by superbugs than by cancer by 2050.
He even called for GPs to be banned from prescribing any antibiotics at all without a blood test proving they are needed.
But the new figures demonstrate that GPs are beginning to heed the dire warnings.
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Prescriptions for broad-spectrum antibiotics fell by 16 per cent, from 3.9 million prescriptions in 2014-15 to 3.3 million the following year.
Dame Sally Davies, the Government’s chief medical officer, has repeatedly warned that medicine will be taken back to the ‘middle ages’ if we do not deal with the problem, comparing the scale of the issue to that of terroris,
Dr Mike Durkin, from NHS Improvement, said: ‘This fantastic result achieved in just one year is testament to the huge efforts of GPs, pharmacists and local commissioners.
Health leaders have warned that overprescribing of antibiotics means that bacteria are evolving to become immune to the drugs, with new breeds of untreatable superbugs emerging all the time (file image)
‘At a time when the NHS has advanced in many areas of patient care, science and technology, we must work to prevent healthcare going backwards to a time where antibiotics are no longer fighting infections.
‘This is why efforts in the NHS to reduce the overprescribing of antibiotics are crucial, and these latest figures are a significant step forward in this fight.’
Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs, added: ‘These figures show that healthcare professionals across the UK are taking our warnings about growing resistance to antibiotics, and its terrible consequences, seriously and are working hard to address them.
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