GLASGOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – British doctors need more time with patients to explain to them why prescribing antibiotics may not always be an appropriate treatment for them, Dr. Andrew Buist, Deputy Chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish GP (General Practitioners) Committee, told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
“GPs are often placed under huge pressure from patients to prescribe antibiotics even when it's maybe not necessary. GPs need to have more time with their patients so that they can explain why, in some cases it is not the right treatment. The public should be made aware that antibiotics are not a cure-all,” Buist said.
"Antibiotics, when used appropriately, can be an effective treatment for many patients. But the increase in prescribing and use has led to a people developing antimicrobial resistance, which can render them useless,” the deputy chairman added.
Jean Turner, Executive Director of the Scotland Patients Association, agreed that GPs needed more time to provide the appropriate level of treatment if the rate of antibiotic prescribing was to be reduced.
“Sometimes you get patients who go to their doctor and they make it very difficult for a General Practitioner, who only has 10 minutes to examine you, diagnose you and send you away,” Turner said.
“I’ve always felt that it is ridiculous to have such a short consultation time, because that is the most important aspect where you can not only examine a patient and diagnose them properly, but you also have time to explain why they might not be given an antibiotic and explaining to them the difference and use of antibiotics,” he added.
Turner also pointed to a growing elderly population and suggested that may be adding to the rise in antibiotic prescribing.
“We have a lot of people who have grown from the industrial age, many of them smokers or former smokers, who do have chronic chest conditions and probably do need antibiotics,” the executive director said.
Another factor that Turner highlighted was the growing use of antibiotics in livestock farming and the need for more research to be done to establish whether this was adding to antibiotic resistance in the human population.
The comments came the day after a new study conducted by University College London and Public Health England revealed that over the past twelve years the number of antibiotics being prescribed by doctors for minor illnesses such as coughs and colds has risen by 40 percent, despite Government recommendations to reduce prescribing for illnesses largely caused by viruses.
