Julian speaks at Antibiotics Conference to highlight how legislators are addressing antibiotic resistance
December 14, 2022
Julian was honoured to be invited by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy to speak at their Winter Conference.
He took part in a fireside chat entitled The Patient, The Clinician, And The Politician: The Impact of a Multi-Drug Resistant Infection alongside Prof Mark Wilcox of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as well as Lyndsay Watterson, a constituent who lost her leg in 2010 after catching an MRSA infection and has since set up a business selling stylish walking sticks.
From their different perspectives, Julian and his fellow panelists warned of a looming health crisis if we do not develop more antibiotics and use existing antibiotics appropriately.
The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy provides secretariat services for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Antibiotics which Julian Chairs. The APPG brings together MPs and Peers from all parties to discuss and lobby for effective policy to address the antibiotic resistance.
In the forthcoming year, the APPG plans to:
- Work with the APPG on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) to launch a report (with recommendations) on the back of the joint inquiry into thelinks between antibiotic resistance and lack of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, in healthcare settings across the world’s least developed countries
- Enquire if ‘medical certificates of cause of death’ (MCCD) provide sufficient detail of the impact drug-resistant infections have on patient mortality
- Explore the emergence of antibiotic resistance in wildlife, with a view to helping to develop a “One Health” approach to containing and controlling antibiotic resistance
- Consult with the representatives of the Department of Health and Social Care on the development of the UK Government’s next National Action Plan (NAP) on antimicrobial resistance. The current NAP runs until 2024
- Work with another APPG to investigate the impact chronic urinary tract infections have on many millions of people (mostly women) every year
- Scrutinise antibiotic use in the aquaculture industry
