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EXPERTS called on doctors yesterday to curb unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions.
It follows the publication of a new study by researchers at Public Health England and University College London that revealed a huge increase in how often antibiotics were handed out for minor ailments.
Thirty-six per cent of patients were given antibiotics for coughs and colds in 1999 but by 2011 this figure had soared to 51 per cent.
This is despite a 1998 warning to GPs telling them not to issue antibiotics for “simple” colds.
Health experts from around the globe have recently warned of the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, fuelled by unnecessary prescribing of the drugs.
The study also showed a “substantial variation” in prescriptions between GP surgeries, with some surgeries twice as likely to pass out pills as those who were most restrained.
