UK: Doctors to be banned from dishing out antibiotics for sore throats & colds (Rationing)

DailyMail.uk ^ | 23rd July 2008 | Daniel Martin

[yankeedame]

Doctors to be banned from dishing out antibiotics for sore throats and colds

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 2:35 AM on 23rd July 2008

Doctors will be told not to hand out antibiotics for coughs, sore throats and colds under guidelines to be unveiled today.

GPs have been accused of wasting more than £100million on the drugs every year for patients with respiratory tract infections.

Rationing watchdog the National Institute for Clinical Excellence said today that the vast majority of cases would clear up on their own.

Adults should simply 'take a rest' while children should be offered 'love and attention'.

And NICE warned that putting patients on antibiotics placed them at needless risk of side effects such as nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Experts also believe that overuse of antibiotics could be a major factor behind the spread of superbugs such as MRSA because it prompts harmful bacteria to develop resistance, and could make it harder to treat serious conditions in the future.

In 2007, GPs wrote 38 prescriptions for antibiotics, costing the Health Service £175million.

NICE said 60 per cent of these were for patients with respiratory tract infections meaning around £105million was wasted.

[sono]

Roger that ... and MRSA is rampant in the UK. The pressure on docs to prescribe antibiotics is enormous. I heard one woman complaining the other day that her doctor was terrible because he wouldn’t give her an antibiotic for what most likely was hay fever.

[mewzilla]

Nope, especially since nosocomial infections are a big problem for the NHS.

[Diogenesis]

Socialized medicine means... less availability.
.... more delay.
.... less testing at critical times.
That is what happens.

Americans have the best cancer survival rates
Healthcare Economist July 22, 2008
"Yesterday, the Economist reported on an article in The Lancet Oncology journal which found that the U.S.
has the best five year survival probabilities for breast and prostate cancer.
Score one for those against universal health care.
“The American free market is always the best!”

[detective]

Government health care in action. Antibiotics were hailed as miracle drugs because they could cure respiratory infections and strep throats which had often led to bronchitis, pneumonia, other lingering illnesses and sometimes death. Anyone who has ever had a respiratory infection or has seen their young child with one should realize how vital antibiotics are. This will be the situation in the US if the Democrats win. We will be stuck with government controlled health care characterized by rationing and long waits for treatment. The government will turn what is now by far the best health care system in the world into a backward, politically rationed mess.

[Amelia]

Doctors will be told not to hand out antibiotics for coughs, sore throats and colds under guidelines to be unveiled today.

Makes sense. Most of these are viral infections, and antibiotics don't do a thing for viral infections.

Overuse of antibiotics does contribute to the development of "superbugs" that are resistant to antibiotics.

If the doctor thinks it might be strep, a test for strep or preferably a culture ought to be done before antibiotics are prescribed.

In other words, this isn't rationing, just good medical practice.

[DustyMoment]

Coming soon to a UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM near you!!!

Be careful what you ask for from the government.

[Wil H]

Socialized medicine means DYING IN LINE!

There's one good thing about socialized medicine.

There's a ten month wait for an abortion.....:-)

[CPOSharky]

Rationing watchdog...

That's scary all by it's self.

[Ditter]

The antibiotics that I have been given when I had the flu or a cold were preventive. I never had a cold or flu in my whole life that did NOT leave me with a sinus or bronchial infection that could go on for months and require antibiotics. That is not until a few years ago when I started washing my sinuses out with warm salt water as soon as I got sick. Why didn't a doctor ever tell me this? Why did I have to figure it out for myself?

[MarkL]

Well, in SOME ways, this isn't a bad idea... If someone has a cold or the flu, antibiotics don't do anything, and in fact, can actually cause some problems. Cold and influenza are caused by a virus, rather than bacteria. Antibiotics are strictly anti-bacterial. But a lot of people have demanded that the doctors "do something," so there have been an awful lot of unneeded antibiotic Rxs written over the years: The result? Many strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria!

On the other hand, if they're suggesting that bacterial infections of the throat and respiratory tracts don't really need antibiotics, that's just dangerous.

Mark

[qwertyz]

Okay, but don’t lose your head over it.

[PowderMonkey]

“GPs have been accused of wasting more than £100million on the drugs every year for patients with respiratory tract infections.”

More precisely, the problem is not the overuse of antibiotics. It's incompetent doctors. In the U.S. the problem is compounded by incompetent doctors seeking to avoid malpractice suits through broad-spectrum (shotgun) treatment approach. The U.K. and U.S. chose not to correct the problem, but rather withhold treatment. In that way it can be handled as a "no fault" situation. My solution: yank their license to practice medicine, and exterminate all ambulance chasers.

[MarkL]

Socialized medicine means DYING IN LINE!

The concept makes liberals feel good, because everybody has an insurance card.

The fact that nobody is able to receive medical care, is of no consequence to them.

Private health insurance (in addition to the government plan) in Canada used to be illegal. I believe that the only way Canadians could go outside the government plans was to leave the country. But IIRC, not long ago, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that waiting to see a doctor was not the same as receiving health care, and they struck down the laws.

You know, I can't help but wonder if one of the many reasons the leftists want to control the US health care system is for global socialism, to limit where people can go for health care. After all, if health care is socialized all over the world, there's no reason to go elsewhere for something you need done, is there?

Mark

[mewzilla]

The antibiotics that I have been given when I had the flu or a cold were preventive.

FWIW...

Antibiotics Appear To Be Overprescribed For Sinus Infections

[Don Corleone]

"Let them die and reduce the surplus population"... E. Scrooge

[Ditter]

I know that now but why wasn't I told the simple remedy of salt water sinus rinses by my doctors? My art teacher told me to get a neti pot and for everything else except art she is a liberal bafoon.

[MaggieCarta]

Socialized medicine means... less availability.
.... more delay.
.... less testing at critical times.
That is what happens.

You are missing the big picture here, pal---this article is talking about (what is most likely) the inappropriate overprescribing of antibiotics for colds and sore throats--I will repeat myself and several posters here: Antibiotics do nothing for viruses. Ending their overuse and misuse isn't rationing--it's prudent medical practice.

[Philly Nomad]

Because that’s hippie medicine.

[MaggieCarta]

In other words, this isn't rationing, just good medical practice.

Thanks for saying it!

[MEGoody]

Doctors will be told not to hand out antibiotics for coughs, sore throats and colds under guidelines to be unveiled today.

Antibiotics won't do anything for a cold anyway. Now the sore throat thing is another story - depends on what is causing the sore throat.