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[CLKD]

The World Health Organisation has been warning for 5+ years that ABs are being over-prescribed.  I believe that by handing over ability for others than GPs to prescribe ABs will increase the problem of resistance = less possibility of counter acting nasties 

So ABs to be handed out OTC without further investigations ............. it's bad enough that GPs don't send urine samples for Lab tests 

[Ayesha]

In a lot of countries you can buy them over the counter without any questions asked which is shocking but I think it will not happen here, far too strict with medications as it is and I don't think that will change.

There are some nasty people out there and I hope it doesn't mean our pharmacists will have to put up with aggressive people demanding antibiotics, we will have to see but I do think its a great new change for the better!

[CLKD]

Plus lot of UK Pharmacies are closing each week 

[Ayesha]

The pharmacist in our local Sainsburys has recently gone but the pharmacist that supplies our medications is still there, just down the road from us.
It's a very modern pharmacy and looks more like walking into a clinic than the usual chemist shop with all the staff wearing white overalls, perhaps this is the way of the future.

[getting_old]

Worrying to say the least. Personally I will only take ABs if absolutely necessary as the side effects are sometimes horrendous, but I know some people who want them at the first sign of a cough, when good old salt water would fix the problem.

I can understand that access to doctors is a problem when people do have infections but being able to buy them OTC is not a good solution. There are so many different ones and unless the pharmacist has access to people's medical history they really can't know what to prescribe.

I've also read a lnumber of reports on the need to limit AB usage because of the risk of developing resistance, which affects all of us, and would mean the need to develop new, more potent ABs. Providing them OTC is surely going in the wrong direction.

[CLKD]

This has been my concern for the last 5 years, World wide resistance. 

[getting_old]

This has been my concern for the last 5 years, World wide resistance.

Yes, I remember when I first heard about it, I assumed it meant that as individuals we would develop resistance then someone explained that it was actually across the entire population. Very worrying.

[suziq99]

We had a clamp down in Spain a few years ago, generally speaking you can now only get them with a prescription. There will probably always be the odd pharmacist that will still hand them out but it’s in the minority now.

[primrose3]

Well i will certainly be attending the gp surgery, waving my walking stick and demanding that a culture is done before i will take any more antibiotics! far too many disrupting nasty side effects and sometimes wrongly prescribed over the phone, give them out like smarties, if pharmacists can also organise cultures then maybe.

[CLKD]

There are those sadly who may well 'insist' on getting ABs even when not required.  Will Pharamcists refer back to the GP ?  which rather defeats the object 

Another lip service to the public with the government making out that they know how the NHS works 

[Ayesha]

I do remember a case of someone going to A&E with a severe sore throat and demanding antibiotics. They were given probably to shut them up and that evening they where happily at a party drinking away! This is what's going to happen at the pharmacy, more hassle for them but I believe its what their governing body wants.

We are very strict here and I believe in America the pharmacies already dispense far more meds than ours do.

[Katejo]

The World Health Organisation has been warning for 5+ years that ABs are being over-prescribed.  I believe that by handing over ability for others than GPs to prescribe ABs will increase the problem of resistance = less possibility of counter acting nasties 

So ABs to be handed out OTC without further investigations ............. it's bad enough that GPs don't send urine samples for Lab tests 

  I have lost trust in urine tests ever since a urogynaecologist told me that they can be falsely negative and falsely positive as well. Even the lab tests are unreliable. She was happy to give me a rescue pack/7 day course to keep as a back up in case I had symptoms but couldn't get to see a GP. I still have an unused pack. My concern about the pharmacist giving them out is that they will only give 3 day courses. The same urogynaecologist told me that ALL AB courses MUST be for a minimum of 7 days. 3 day courses do more harm than good because they don't finish the job.

If I get symptoms now, I try an increase of Vagifem combined with bicarb of soda in water and ibuprofen for 24 to 48 hours before considering an AB. It works for me in 90% of cases.

[CLKD]

Do U drink the bicarb of soda   

[sheila99]

I had visions of a syringe... 

[Katejo]

Do U drink the bicarb of soda   

  Yes. Just a half teaspoon dissolved in a glass of water. Makes me burp a bit but reduces irritation