Remote prescribing with Geva Greenfield and Benedict Hayhoe

The past year has seen an increase in antibiotic prescriptions, especially for broad-spectrum antibiotics. This might be due to the rise in teleconsultations, which limit the ability to examine patients, causing GPs to experience higher levels of uncertainty in making diagnoses. This week, we discuss the impact that COVID-19, and COVID tests, have had on access to healthcare, the risk of antimicrobial resistance, and how the pandemic has altered the presentation and case mix seen in GP surgeries. With teleconsulting likely here to stay, how do we adjust to the changes in primary care provision, in order to prescribe with confidence? And how do we become good antibiotic stewards? Our guests: Geva Greenfield is a research fellow in the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health. His research focuses on primary care and health policy, and big healthcare data analytics. Benedict Hayhoe is a London-based GP, and a clinical lecturer in the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health. His research interests include digital health and antimicrobial resistance. Further reading: https://www.expmedndm.ox.ac.uk/step-up Armitage A, Nellums L. Antibiotic prescribing in general practice during COVID-19. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30917-8 de Lusignan S, Joy M, Sherlock J, Tripathy M, van Hecke O, Gbinigie O et al. PRINCIPLE trial demonstrates scope for in-pandemic improvement in primary care antibiotic stewardship. medRxiv. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.02.21250902 Han SM, Greenfield G, Majeed A, Hayhoe B. Impact of Remote Consultations on Antibiotic Prescribing in Primary Health Care: Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2020; 22(11):e23482. https://doi.org/10.2196/23482 Hayhoe B, Butler C, Majeed A, Saxena S. Telling the truth about antibiotics: benefits, harms and moral duty in prescribing for children in primary care. Journal of Antimicrobial