Phased In: delivering antimicrobial stewardship in primary care

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  PHarmacy-first partnership delivering Antimicrobial Stewardship for EveryDay practice IN primary care (PHASED IN): a feasibility study

• IRAS ID

  334489

• Contact name

  Paul Little

• Contact email

  p.little@soton.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Head of Research Ethics and Governance

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 6 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Background. One in three people see doctors, nurses or pharmacists each year with common infections, such as colds, flu, chest, ear, sinus and urine infections. Currently most antibiotics are prescribed in general practice but antibiotics mostly don’t help. Overuse of antibiotics harms people and causes antibiotic resistance to develop, This could make modern medicine, such as routine surgery and cancer treatments, difficult or impossible. Early evidence from community pharmacy ‘minor illness’ schemes, suggests this is probably both safe and may lower antibiotic use. However, these services are not widely available. There is no high-quality scientific evidence for this type of infection service.

  Aim. To assess the feasibility of a infection service using decision-making tools to help community pharmacies share the management of common acute infections in primary care.

  Developing tools to support antibiotic stewardship
  We have developed evidence based ‘decision-making tools’ to standardise care and help identify people who do not need antibiotics, and those who might need them. The intervention will include these decision-making tools, as well as diagnostic tests that can be carried out on the spot if needed (such as C-reactive protein) and patient leaflets to support self-care.

  Testing the feasibility of using the package
  10 general practices will continue with management as usual, and 10 will be trained to refer patients presenting with common infections to linked community pharmacies who will use the intervention. We will include practices in a wide range of settings (including high and low income areas, urban and rural, and practices with high ethnic minority populations) and will look at how well the service works, what the implications are for providing the service, and patient and healthcare professional views with a view to any revisions needed prior to a fuller trial of the new service.

• REC name

  East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/EE/0050

• Date of REC Opinion

  14 Mar 2024

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion