DOCTORS are prescribing more antibiotics to patients in Scotland despite a bid to cut their use and curtail the emergence of superbugs.
Figures show a 6% increase in antibiotic use in hospitals and a 3% rise in prescriptions issued by GPs in the community.
Dr Camilla Wiuff, strat-egic lead for microbiology with Health Protection Scotland, said the rises were "a little bit disappointing".
An investigation into the reasons for the surge in antibiotic use in hospitals is being undertaken this year.
Dr Wiuff said there were several reasons why hospital doctors might be handing out more, including a surge in the number of elderly patients or very sick people on the wards, and larger doses being required to treat certain conditions. She also said a campaign to treat blood poisoning early could have encouraged prescribing.
The quantity of anti-biotics prescribed by GPs has fallen significantly since the mid-1990s, but began to climb again in recent years. The data, released by the information division of NHS Scotland, shows a 3.3% rise in 2012. It is the second year in a row that the figure has increased.
Dr Wiuff said that in hospitals patients some-times continued to receive antibiotics when the treatment could be stopped and regular reviews of patients' medication could ensure this did not happen.
The use of antibiotics in hospitals was up 6.2% in 2012, compared to 2011.
There is concern on an international scale about bugs evolving to resist antibiotics and the way this could weaken the ability of medicine to fight infections.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article