A key part of the UK Strategy to combat AMR is to reduce the inappropriate use of antimicrobials through a number of different policies and interventions. Our Unit has successfully developed systems and methodologies which allow routinely collected data to be used to assess the impact of the National Prescribing Policy, and potentially, the impact of other policy interventions.

This has enabled us to review both its effectiveness, but also any unintended consequences for specific groups. The Government’s The Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Prescribing, Resistance and Healthcare Associated (APRHAI) has recommended that Public Health England continue surveillance using our methodology and our findings will inform any revisions to the existing policy and guidelines to GPS.


Publications

Violeta Balinskaite, Sabine Bou-Antoun, Alan P Johnson, et al, An assessment of potential unintended consequences following a national antimicrobial stewardship programme in England: an interrupted time series analysis, Clinical Infectious Diseases, October 2018

Alan P Johnson, Alison Holmes, Paul Aylin, Violeta Balinskaite, The impact of a national antimicrobial stewardship programme on antibiotic prescribing in primary care: an interrupted time series analysis, Clinical Infectious Diseases, October 2018

Bou-Antoun s, Costelloe C, Honeyford K, et al, Age-related decline in antibiotic prescribing for uncomplicated respiratory tract infections in primary care in England following the introduction of a national financial incentive (the Quality Premium) for health commissioners to reduce use of antibiotics in the community: an interrupted time series analysis, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, June 2018

Lishman H, Costelloe C, Hopkins S et al, Exploring the relationship between primary care antibiotic prescribing for urinary tract infections, Escherichia coli bacteraemia incidence and antibiotic resistance: an ecological study, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, August 2018

Antibiotic management of urinary tract infection in the elderly in primary care and its association with bloodstream infections and all-cause mortality: a population-based cohort study IN PRESS