Pressure to reduce antibiotic prescriptions puts elderly at increased sepsis risk

Experts have warned that the war on superbugs is increasing the risk of elderly people dying from sepsis.

In a bid to stop infections from becoming resistant to antibiotic treatment, GPs are being put under more and more pressure to reduce prescriptions, with local health boards being offered payments if they bring down their prescription rates.

In recent history, GPs have been warned repeatedly that they risk creating a ‘public health catastrophe’ by handing out too many drugs, even being told at one point that they could be struck off for overprescribing.

The British Medical Journal have now published a study which suggests that this pressure may be putting vulnerable people at risk.

The study has revealed that the elderly are often being denied antibiotics for infections, increasing their risk of sepsis eight-fold and doubling their risk of death.

The study has been welcomed by the Royal College of GPs, who have warned that their profession have been placed in an impossible situation.

Researchers involved in the study estimated that for every 37 patients refused antibiotics, one case of sepsis would occur that would not have been picked up with immediate antibiotics.

They said “The question remains as to why a significant proportion – about 7 per cent – of vulnerable older patients had a diagnosis of UTI but were not prescribed antibiotics.

“It could be patient or doctor choice, but it is also possible that antimicrobial stewardship programmes and quality premium payments are encouraging a culture of more judicious antibiotic use.

“Public Health England recently reported a 13.2 per cent reduction in antibiotic prescribing in primary care between 2013 and 2017. A decline in antibiotic use may harm vulnerable older populations who are already more likely to develop UTI related complications and bloodstream infection.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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