GPs feel 'pressured' into prescribing antibiotics

Just six per cent of patients say they would push their GPs to prescribe them antibiotics, a survey by Poplus found.

This is despite 90 per cent of doctors claiming they feel "pressured" to hand out medication even if in half of cases they believe it will do no good.

Ninety per cent of GPs feel "pressured" to prescribe antibiotics, a survey has revealed.

The Longitude Prize survey, which questioned more than 1,000 doctors in the UK, also found 28 per cent had prescribed antibiotics several times a week even if they were unsure it was medically necessary.

And 45 per cent of GPs said they had done so even though they knew it would not alleviate the patient's condition.

The findings come after Public Health England experts revealed earlier this month that the number of patients given antibiotics for minor ailments has soared in recent years.

Read more: Some GPs 'twice as likely' to prescribe antibiotics