Antimicrobial resistance is not just a threat to our ability to treat and prevent disease. Routine surgical procedures such as caesarean sections, hip and knee replacements, cardiac surgery, as well as cancer treatment with chemotherapy, rely on the availability of effective antimicrobial agents. Indeed it is estimated that more than 3 million surgical and cancer treatments each year could become life threatening without antibiotics.⁶

Currently, there are few new antibiotics or replacements in development; drugs that specifically target super resistant micro-organisms are even more scarce.

NHS England says: ‘As resistance continues to increase, more people will suffer for longer as infections become more difficult to treat – resulting in longer hospital admissions, routine surgical procedures becoming more dangerous to perform, and higher death rates. The impact of antimicrobial resistance therefore has a detrimental effect on the working of modern medicine and can and will affect each and every one of us.’⁷  

The number of resistant infections fell during the COVID-19 pandemic perhaps showing the impact of infection control measures such as reduced socialising, improved hand and respiratory hygiene and change in the way people seek out healthcare treatment. However, levels have since risen above those seen before the pandemic.

In England, there has been a 22.7% increase in a selected set of antibiotic-resistant infections, from 9,922 infections in the financial year 2019 to 2020 to 12,175 infections in the financial year 2024 to 2025, according to a report from ESPAUR (English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance).⁸