PATIENTS and visitors to the Great Western Hospital have been educated in the appropriate use of antibiotics.

Friday was the annual European Antibiotic Awareness Day, a Europe-wide public health initiative centred on heightening both healthcare and public awareness of how antibiotics should be used.

To mark the occasion, pharmacy department staff and Infection Prevention and Control Nurses organised a stand in the Atrium at GWH to promote the day and highlight the topic.

A spokesman for GWH said: “The stand included information about the issues relating to inappropriate antibiotic use, and using an interactive game to test people’s knowledge of which conditions require antibiotic treatment.

“Staff members passing the stand were able to obtain an up-to-date copy of the GWH antibiotic guidelines on a handy ‘keri card’ that can be attached to their identification badge.

“These cards are designed for immediate reference to help staff access information quickly and easily on appropriate antibiotic prescribing.”

Marc Sprenger, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said: “ECDC has been involved in coordinating the European Antibiotic Awareness Day, an EU-wide initiative to promote more prudent antibiotic use, since 2008, and we are very proud that 37 countries are joining efforts to mark this day.”

The awareness event followed a recent survey by the Health Protection Agency which found that a quarter of people wrongly believe antibiotics work on most coughs and colds.

In reality, antibiotics cannot treat viruses, which cause most respiratory tract infections.

The HPA poll of 1,800 people also found one in ten people keep leftover antibiotics - and many would self-medicate next time they became ill.

Of those polled, 500 had been prescribed antibiotics in the previous year, with 11 per cent reporting they had leftovers and six per cent saying they might take them if they had future infections.