When handing out a dispensed prescription for antibiotics
Patients should be provided with the following key messages and encouraged to ask questions:
• Take the medicine as prescribed (state the dose, frequency and duration)
• If the antibiotic needs to be taken before or after food (or it does not matter)
• Don’t share antibiotics with others or reuse them after the stated duration
• Return any unused antibiotics to the pharmacy (do not dispose of them at home by, for example, flushing down the toilet or sink).
APPG recommendations
A recent All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antibiotics report has recommended the following: “Give pharmacists access to information on the conditions for which prescriptions are issued so that they can check dosages, challenge decisions appropriately and advise patients on when it might be worth considering delaying treatment in consultation with the prescribing doctor or dentist.”