'Fantastic result' as antibiotic prescriptions fall by 2.6m

The number of antibiotics being prescribed by GPs in England has fallen by 2.6 million.

The "fantastic result" comes just one week after experts called for doctors to stop handing out antibiotics "like sweets", after a major review found that over-prescribing was giving rise to antibiotic resistant 'superbugs'.

According to NHS Improvement, prescriptions for all types of the drug fell by 2.6 million, compared to 34 million in 2015-2016, and showed that doctors were taking care not to over-prescribe.

Prescriptions for broad-spectrum antibiotics (those which act against a wide-range of bacteria) also fell by 16%, from 3.9 million prescriptions in 2014-2015 to 3.3 million the following year.