New NICE guidelines call for greater antimicrobial stewardship

Fresh guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have outlined new ways that medical professionals can promote and monitor the sensible use of antibiotics.

The guidance highlights the need for local and multidisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship programmes or teams working across all care settings, which would review prescribing and resistance data frequently and feed this information back to prescribers.

Teams would also work with medical professionals to understand the reasons for unusually high, increasing or very low volumes of antimicrobial prescribing, while providing feedback and assistance to those prescribing antimicrobials in a way that does not conform to local guidelines.

Professor Mark Baker, director of the Centre for Clinical Practice at NICE, said the aim of this guidance is to create a "transparent culture that allows health professionals to question antimicrobial prescribing practices of colleagues when these are not in line with local and national guidelines and no reason is documented".

A recent survey indicated that nine out of ten GPs feel pressured to prescribe antibiotics, with 97 percent of patients who ask for them ultimately receiving the drugs. This creates the risk of antibiotic-resistant superbugs emerging, leading to a national health emergency.