Five-year action plan
The UK Government’s antimicrobial resistance five-year national action plan, ‘Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029’, builds on the first national action plan and has a number of ambitions it aims to achieve by 2029, including to:10
– prevent any increase in a specified set of drug-resistant infections in humans from the 2019 to 2020 financial year baseline
– prevent any increase in gram-negative bloodstream infections (which are described as difficult-to-treat infections) in humans from the 2019 to 2020 baseline
– increase UK public and healthcare professionals’ knowledge bout antimicrobial resistance by 10%, using 2018 and 2019 baselines, respectively
– reduce total antibiotic use in human populations by 5% from the 2019 baseline
– achieve 70% of total use of antibiotics from the access category (a new UK category) across the human healthcare system
Access antibiotics are those with a narrow spectrum of activity, fewer side effects, lower costs and, importantly, lower resistance potential. They are first and second choice antibiotics recommended for empiric treatment of the most common infections.11,12
The NHS Long Term Plan details commitments by the NHS to continue supporting implementation and delivery of the national action plan. This includes ensuring access to old and new treatments, preventative measures (including vaccines) and appropriate tools (including diagnostics and electronic prescribing in hospitals and community settings), together with continued support for system-wide improvement, surveillance, infection prevention and control practice, and antimicrobial stewardship, ensuring resources are available for clinical expertise and senior leadership at all levels.13