NHS Lanarkshire staff are asking the public to make a personal pledge to help reduce the use of antibiotics.

The plea is part of this year’s European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) which falls on 18 November.

The annual event is used to help raise professional and public awareness about antibiotic overuse and the increase in antimicrobial resistance.

Following on from the success of last year’s ‘antibiotic guardianship pledge’, all healthcare professionals and the public who have not already done so, are being asked to sign the pledge which commits them to support the prudent use of antibiotics.

Dr Stephanie Dundas, infectious disease consultant and chair of NHS Lanarkshire antimicrobial management team based in Monklands Hospital, said: “Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health issue as without effective antibiotics, many routine treatments will become increasingly dangerous.

“We need to cut the use of unnecessary antibiotics which is why we’d encourage everyone to help us by signing the guardianship pledge.

“The pledge is aimed at both the public and healthcare professionals and it asks signatories to choose one simple pledge about how they’ll make better use of antibiotics and help save this vital medicine from becoming obsolete.”

As well as promoting the pledge, the infection management staff are also promoting EAAD by circulating leaflets, putting up posters and will organise information stalls in each of NHS Lanarkshire’s three acute hospitals.

Area antimicrobial pharmacist Steve McCormick, who is overseeing the awareness campaign in Lanarkshire, said: “All this activity is to help us get the message out there, to both prescribers and patients that they should stop and think before they use antibiotics.

“They’re often used to treat an ailment or condition which is likely to be self-limiting and would clear up anyway without the need for any antibiotic.”

To sign the antibiotic guardianship pledge visit http://www.antibioticguardian.com