THE Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has released its 2024 data for antimicrobial use in the community, describing the findings as “encouraging”.

There were over 23 million antimicrobial prescriptions supplied in 2024 on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS/RPBS) – almost all of which were for systemic antibiotics.

This represents an increase of 4.8% from 2023, but is still 20.8% lower than 2015.

Just over one-third of Australians had at least one antimicrobial dispensed in 2024, though the rates were much higher for older people.

Australians aged 65 and older in aged care homes received more than double the number of prescriptions than the same age group in the community, and there was an increase of 14.4% from 2023.

“The overall decline in antimicrobial use in the community [over the 10-year reporting period] is encouraging, despite high dispensing rates among older Australians and aged care home residents,” the Commission said in the report.

“Despite recent increases, the volume of antimicrobial use in the community remains below pre-pandemic levels [which indicates that] lower levels of antimicrobial use in Australia are achievable long-term.

“However, urgent action is needed to reestablish the downward trend,” it added.

Usage rates in Australia remain higher than comparable European countries, and there are opportunities to improve prescribing practices locally.

The data did not include private prescriptions or antimicrobial medicines supplied over-the-counter, but were estimated to have captured more than 90% of prescriptions.

The Commission noted this was an “important gap in current surveillance of antimicrobial use in Australia, [especially] given the increasing proportion of private antimicrobial prescriptions issued in the community by medical and non-medical clinicians”.

Read the report HERE. KB

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