National surveillance data from the UK Health Security Agency show that antibiotic resistant infections in 2023 surpassed pre-pandemic levels – 66,630 serious cases in 2023, compared with 62,314 in 2019.
The English Surveillance of Antibiotic Prescribing and Utilisation Report (ESPAUR) shows that the majority of antibiotic resistant bloodstream infections in the last 5 years (65%) were caused by E. coli – a common cause of urinary tract infections, diarrhoea, vomiting and fever.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria of any kind are less likely to respond to treatment, causing serious complications, including bloodstream infections, sepsis and hospitalisation. People who get a bacterial infection that is resistant to one or more antibiotics are more likely to die within 30 days compared with those who have an antibiotic sensitive infection.
Managing antibiotic consumption and only using them when appropriate is essential to limiting the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and associated deaths related to these infections.
There is also a widening gap between the most and least deprived areas in terms of risk of an antibiotic resistant infection. People living in more deprived communities were 42.6% more likely to have an antibiotic resistant infection, compared with those in the least deprived areas.
Professor Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of UKHSA, said: ‘Increasingly the first antibiotics that patients receive aren’t effective at tackling their infections. That’s not just an inconvenience – it means they are at greater risk of developing a severe infection and sepsis. Our declining ability to treat and prevent infections is having an increasing impact, particularly on our poorest communities.’
Antibiotic use also rose in 2023 by 2.4%, compared with 2022, and prescribing levels are now in line with those seen in 2019. The increases were across the majority of antibiotic groups, with penicillins the most frequently prescribed antibiotic group in primary and secondary care.
- Latest figures from the NHS Business Services authority shows that the cost of medicines rose by 7% in the last financial year to more than £20.6 billion.
Of this, almost half (49.1%) of total expenditure was for medicines prescribed in primary care.
The most expensive therapy areas for prescribing in primary care were diabetes, £1.87 billion; cardiovascular conditions, £1.7 billion; central nervous system, £1.58 billion; and respiratory disease, £1.19 billion.
The net ingredient cost of items prescribed in primary care has increased by 5% in 2023/24 and by 18% since 2019/20.
