News Focus

Data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA, 2022) has shown that there were 148 severe antibiotic-resistant infections a day in 2021.

Antibiotic resistance is a concern for experts. Recent estimates suggest that antimicrobial resistance causes 1.27 million deaths globally each year and 7600 deaths in the UK each year. Without working antibiotics, routine surgery will become too dangerous to perform, cancer chemotherapy will become too high risk and certain infections will require long and complex treatment or will no longer be treatable (Department of Health and Social Care, 2022).

The Department of Health and Social Care has launched a consultation to help inform a new 5-year national action plan to protect patients and capture learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic. The consultation will seek views to make sure that the next 5-year plan - continuing up until 2029 - is informed by the most up-to-date evidence.