The Importance of Common Practice Approach

The main principles of antimicrobial stewardship are:

1. Encourage everyone to take responsibility for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through excellent hygiene and responsible antimicrobial use. This includes local authority public health teams, commissioners, prescribers, primary care and community pharmacy teams, childcare and education providers, and the general public of all ages.

2. Ensure that antimicrobial stewardship programmes are a local priority. Local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) should work collaboratively towards a system-wide approach to reduce AMR with consistent information to share with the public to help reduce inappropriate antimicrobial demand and use, and advising people on how to use antimicrobial medicines.

3. Improve people’s infection prevention knowledge and their behaviour towards antimicrobials, especially children and young people, who will be future antimicrobial users and prescribers.

Healthcare professionals need to work collectively towards a local system-wide approach in general practice, out-of-hours services, pharmacies, hospitals, schools, and other healthcare premises, to share consistent antimicrobial stewardship messages with the general public.

The downloadable (below) editorial by Public Health England, Charlotte Eley and Professor Cliodna McNulty, discusses the NICE Guidance 63 and explains what steps can be taken to reduce antimicrobial prescribing.