Try a spoonful of honey to ease that cold, patients told
PATIENTS should try treating their coughs and colds with honey and over-the-counter remedies before going to the doctor for antibiotics, health officials say.
New draft guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has also advised GPs to avoid drugs for coughs where possible because in most cases they do little to improve symptoms.
The step is the latest tactic in the battle to reduce the use of antibiotics and reduce the prevalence of antibiotic resistance.
If antibiotics fail, infections will become more difficult to treat and could lead to transplants and cancer treatments proving too risky to carry out.
Drug-resistant “superbugs” could also become more commonplace, the experts suggest.
Dr Tessa Lewis, GP and chairwoman of the antimicrobial prescribing guidelines group, said: “If someone has a runny nose, sore throat and cough, we would expect the cough to settle over two to three weeks and antibiotics are not needed.
“People can check their symptoms on NHS Choices or NHS Direct Wales or ask their pharmacist for advice.
“If the cough is getting worse rather than better, or the person feels very unwell or breathless, then they would need to contact their GP.”
The guidance states that cough medicines containing pelargonium, guaifenesin or dextromethorphan might also be beneficial.
Patients are being told to use these treatments and wait for symptoms to improve on their own before paying a visit to their doctor.
As many as one in five GP prescriptions for antibiotics may be inappropriate, according to research published by Public Health England (PHE) earlier this year.
And the body has warned that overuse of the drugs is threatening their long-term effectiveness.
Dr Susan Hopkins, from PHE, said: “Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem and we need to take action now to reduce antibiotic use.
“Taking antibiotics when you don’t need them puts you and your family at risk of developing infections which in turn cannot be easily treated.
“These new guidelines will support GPs to reduce antibiotic prescriptions and we encourage patients to take their GP’s advice about selfcare.”