Scotland heads up antibiotic resistance

Scotland will move to the forefront of the UK and Europe in the fight against antibiotic resistant hospital infections such as MRSA thanks to a 1.25 million investment, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

The funding is part of an action plan published last month to tackle the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
The action plan sets out measures health boards will take to reduce antibiotic resistance and will see a robust surveillance programme put in place to monitor the situation across Scotland’s hospitals.

It will promote prudent prescribing of antibiotics through improved diagnosis of illnesses and education of NHS staff.
The surveillance programme will monitor and provide data on organisms which are resistant to antibiotics, such as MRSA, morbidity and how widely antibiotics are used.

This will allow early identification of serious emerging resistance to antibiotics within hospitals and the community.
“One of the most important things that can be done in the fight against hospital superbugs is to stamp out unnecessary use of antibiotics,” said Ms Sturgeon.

“If you have a cold or a virus, in the vast majority of cases you don’t need to take antibiotics. In fact, doing so unnecessarily can increase the virulence and spread of infections like MRSA and C.diff, which we all know can have a devastating effect.”

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