More of BERT’s ‘nudge’ letters to GPs with high antibiotic prescribing rates could help further drive down antimicrobial dispensing, a former RACGP president argues.

Dr Liz Marles says a “supportive rather than punitive” feedback exercise — similar to the one run by the federal Department of Health in 2017 — is needed to improve prescribing without jeopardising patient safety.

It follows the release of a new five-year trend report showing Australia’s antimicrobial dispensing rate is still higher than that of many comparable OECD countries.

The report, published by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, found that Australia’s dispensing rate of 22.7 defined daily doses per 1000 people in 2017-18 was higher than in the UK (16.3), Sweden (10.8) and the Netherlands (8.9).