Significant change in Surgery Policy – Antibiotic Use at Peacock Surgery

Please read this entire notice please, as it affects all patients

Antibiotic resistant infections are rising in the UK which means some common infections are becoming harder to treat as they do not respond properly to available treatments. It is vital we keep antibiotics working.

Prior to the merger of Stansted and Elsenham Surgeries, we were both high prescribers of antibiotics. This position remains unchanged following our merger. Peacock Surgery is in the highest 20 – out of 125 surgeries – in Herts and West Essex for antibiotic prescribing. When we look at our number of prescriptions for antibiotics compared to those of neighbouring surgeries of comparable size to us, we are not doing well enough in the National and International quest to fight antibiotic resistance. We want to work towards improving this.

How will be improve, and why is it important that we improve?

We will need patient support and understanding to get better at antibiotic prescribing, and we want to manage patient’s expectations from the start. All our prescribers will be prescribing antibiotics according to national guidance for infections seen in general practice. We do understand that you want to feel better as soon as you can, but the reality is that often antibiotics will make only a limited difference, and their use carries some risks. Our clinicians will try to balance the risks and benefits when assessing your symptoms. For safety reasons this will- more often than not- need to be carried out face to face rather than by phone. Exceptions to this would include simple urinary tract infections, or straightforward skin infections (with photos) in well patients which we think can still be managed safely by phone.

If you are unhappy about a decision not to prescribe antibiotics, another clinician will be asked to join the consultation, to review if their decision would be different. This may cause delays in consultations, and increased waiting time in our waiting room, but this measure reflects how seriously we are taking this project.

Please understand that you may be assessed on a Monday, and not given antibiotics, but by Thursday you may need some. A bacterial infection can occur after a viral infection, but we should not be prescribing antibiotics on a “just in case” basis.

Please understand that our outcomes for patients are not any better than the outcomes for patients registered at a surgery who is not in the top 20 antibiotic prescribers. In fact, our over-prescribing of antibiotics is a great cause for concern for us, and it should be for our patients too.

It is important that we work together against antibiotic resistance. There are no new antibiotics being developed, and the ones we have are our only defence against managing and treating serious infections.

 Please be assured that this campaign is not driven by cost. This is about a much wider Public Health concern. In cases where antibiotics are clinically needed, they will be prescribed as usual.

This is a team effort – patients and the surgery will need to work together. You have always supported all our projects, and we know we can count on your support again.