Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:44 pm on 9 November 2016.
Thank you for the third question. There are a range of challenges here. It’s actually an area where the four UK components of the national health service family actually have a joint approach—a recognition of common challenges in antimicrobial resistance, but also in prescribing behaviour as well as a need for further research. So, you will see Wales play its part within the research community. There are significant areas, not only of health gain, but also within the life science sector, for potential further activity. But I think we need to start with, and probably our biggest contribution can be in, making sure that prescribing guidelines are adhered to. There’s got to be a change in both attitude and behaviour from clinicians in both primary and secondary care, but also, importantly, in terms of public expectation about what will happen during healthcare interactions and whether people will be prescribed antibiotics that are appropriate and, equally, will accept and understand when a clinician says an antibiotic is not appropriate as well. We’re actually harming ourselves by overprescribing and overuse, and we’re now going to deal with the reality of some of that challenge. So, there are real challenges, both in behaviour as well as in research and the future in this particular area.