HPRU returns with annual Antibiotic Amnesty at Imperial

Juliet Allibone playing Play Your Cards Right with a punter

It was a productive first day of the week long annual Antibiotic Amnesty for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week

Members of the Health Protection Research Unit in HCAI and AMR at Imperial College, had a productive first day of their week long annual Antibiotic Amnesty  for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week.

HPRU PhD students, researchers and support team manned stands at the Hammersmith and South Kensington Campus, successfully signing up 66 staff and students to make a pledge to become Antibiotic Guardians.

The Amnesty initiative  is also being run by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and supported by Boots the Chemist, as part of their wider activities for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week.  Staff at the Science Museum are also participating in the Amnesty to tie in with their new exhibition “superbugs: the fight of our lives”.

The Amnesty  aims to engage people about the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), encourages them to surrender unwanted antibiotics and  asks them to make a pledge to use antibiotics responsibly in the future.  Staff and students also had the opportunity to play two games “Dicing with Death” – a snakes and ladders game highlighting positive and negative behaviours in relation to AMR,  which was hit at last year’s Imperial Festival  and a new game “play your cards right” which tests people’s understanding and assumptions about Drug Resistant Infections.

The Amnesty will be held for the whole week of 12-17 November and can be found in the Sherfield Building on South Kensington campus and the Commonwealth Building at Hammersmith, between 12:00-13:30.  People surrendering Antibiotics, or pledging to become an Antibiotic Guardian, will be entered into a prize draw for £100 of Amazon Vouchers.  If you are unable to visit the stand, you can still participate by sending your Antibiotic Guardian Certificate to head.ops@imperial.ac.uk

The Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust amnesty will run until Wednesday 1 December.. People can hand in their unused or out of date antibiotics at any of the Trust’s Lloyds outpatient pharmacies based at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith and Hammersmith Hospital in Acton.

For the Boots press release please see here (http://www.pharmacymagazine.co.uk/boots-supports-world-antibiotic-awareness-week