This week marks World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week (November 18th to 24th), a global campaign to raise awareness and understanding of AMR and promote best practices among One Health stakeholders to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.
Antibiotics stewardship is a subject close to the hearts of vet Lizzie Booth and the rest of the team at Quarry Vets in Shrewsbury, who have been rewarded for their success in reducing long-acting antibiotic use by 89%…..
RAISING awareness of antimicrobial resistance and reducing the number of antibiotics being prescribed at the practice has led to Quarry Vets in Shrewsbury being Highly Commended in the RCVS Knowledge Awards for Antimicrobial Stewardship in 2024.
The awards celebrate achievements across the profession for activities that contribute to advancing the quality of veterinary care.
Vet Lizzie Booth led the project and as a practice they reviewed their antimicrobial stewardship focusing on antimicrobial use in skin infections, and the use of high priority critically important antibiotics.
They arranged new initiatives, all-team training and introducing fresh guidelines, which resulted in an impressive 89% reduction in long-acting antibiotic use.
Lizzie has been hailed by colleagues for changing the practice’s mindset towards antibiotic choice and usage which is imperative in reducing antimicrobial resistance.
She also runs an Antibiotic Amnesty every November, encouraging conversations between vets and clients about antibiotic usage, resistance and why it is important to dispose of them correctly, leading to an increase in antibiotic returns.
Lizzie said: “Here at Quarry Vets, we have changed our mindset towards the use of critically important antibiotics.
“We feel this is important because a future where antibiotics are not effective is a very real threat and we have a responsibility to use them appropriately.
“We started our antibiotics stewardship project because I identified a few areas where I felt we could improve as a practice and I wanted to create more of a consensus on when and what antibiotics we should, and shouldn’t, be using and, if possible, reduce our cefovecin use.
“I thought it was really important for all the vets in the team to be involved and to contribute to the conversation. We found the best way to do this was through the Practice Management System messaging software.
“I would send around a message asking what we were currently doing in particular areas. This helped to work out where we were already doing well but also identified areas where we perhaps weren’t following recommendations and where we could improve.
“I then shared guidance on the recommendations and where we could change and asked for feedback. Once everyone had time to reply, I tried to identify questions, concerns and any barriers to us changing. Where possible, I tried to present the evidence behind the guidelines, particularly where it differed to our current practice.
“Over time, the project evolved, and I retrospectively audited some of our prescribing data and I was hugely surprised by the impact the project had had. At the time of applying for the RCVS Knowledge Awards, our cefovecin use had reduced by a massive 89%. This was the biggest change, but we also saw reductions in other areas.
“Since the RCVS Knowledge Awards we’ve carried on auditing our antibiotic use and the reduction has been sustained. They were huge changes and all down to simply down to talking about antibiotic use more and utilising resources such as the BSAVA protect me poster and RCVS Knowledge AMR hub.”
Lizzie hopes the success of Quarry Vets’ antibiotic stewardship will help to inspire other VetPartners practices.
“Credit for this goes to the vets at the practice who were open to changing things,” she said.
“This kind of project can be applied to any practice, and it shows how bringing antibiotics stewardship into conversation can lead to really big and really sustained changes. I hope this encourages more people to talk about antibiotics. The auditing process was really rewarding because it was good to be able to see where we have changed.
“It was really nice to be recognised for what we achieved through the RCVS Knowledge Awards.”
For media enquiries, please contact Amanda Little, VetPartners PR and Communications Director, at amanda.little@vetpartners.co.uk or 07970 198492
