The Prescribing Cost of Antibiotics

Antibiotics are used to treat or prevent bacterial infections. There are many different types of antibiotics and some of the most prescribed include:

• Amoxicillin, used to treat skin infections, chest infections and urinary tract infections.
• Doxycycline Hyclate, used to treat a skin condition called rosacea, dental infections, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
• Cefalexin, used to treat pneumonia and other chest infections.

The overuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which cause infections that can be serious and challenging to treat as they no longer respond to many types of existing antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance is viewed as a critical public health challenge, with the NHS and health organisations across the world trying to reduce the use of antibiotics to combat rising antimicrobial resistance rates.

This page tracks the prescribing cost of certain antibiotic types over time and by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

Data sources: NHS Digital, Open Geography Portal and OpenPrescribing.net.

Latest Data: 30/03/2022 09:46:46

Prescribing cost (£) of Amoxicillin, Doxycycline Hyclate, and Cefalexin per month

Prescribing cost (£) of Amoxicillin, Doxycycline Hyclate, and Cefalexin per 1000 GP registered population for the current year

About this page

This page is built using end-to-end open source analytical tools including: The NHS Digital Service Manual, python, plotly, folium, beautiful soup, github.io, and github actions.

If you have any suggestions or questions, email: mattia.ficarelli@nhsx.nhs.uk