Project #199:
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic prescribing

During the COVID-19 pandemic, population mixing was reduced due to lockdowns and social distancing, decreasing the spread of other common diseases as well as COVID-19 which led to surges of cases in some of these diseases when measures were eased from 2022 onwards. These surges sometimes led to a higher demand for antibiotics, and reports of local pharmacies running out of stock, particularly over the winter months when demand was seasonally quite high.

During Winter 2022 DHSC issued multiple serious shortage protocol for a range of antibiotics to permit pharmacies the flexibility to supply an alternative formulation or an alternative antibiotic if they did not have the specific one prescribed in stock. We will track what antibiotics were prescribed by GPs, comparing this to prescribing rates before, during and after the pandemic, as well as investigating the differences between different antibiotic formulations, prescription reasons and characteristics. This may make it possible to determine if there were any early signals within the data of this specific antibiotic shortage, which could support the internal supply issue management in the future.