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Superbugs are on the rise in the UK and the government is failing in its efforts to tackle them, ministers have been warned.
The World Health Organization has described antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – where pathogens evolve and develop resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobials so the drugs usually used to fight them no longer work – as “one of the top global public health and development threats”.
AMR is already contributing to more than 35,000 deaths a year in the UK, estimates suggest. But the government “remains a long way” from achieving its aim of containing and controlling AMR, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
If urgent action is not taken to stem the crisis, the consequences for health, life expectancy, the functioning of the NHS and the wider economy would be “huge”, the watchdog said.
A report by the NAO into how government is responding to AMR, published on Wednesday, warned that ministers had only made “limited progress”.
The government is taking the issue seriously, the NAO said, but “remains a long way from the vision and objectives” it has set: a lower burden of infection, the optimal use of antimicrobials, and new treatments so everyday illnesses can continue to be cured.
Of five domestic targets set in 2019, only one – reducing antibiotic use in food-producing animals – was met. Drug-resistant infections in humans have increased by 13% since 2018, despite a target to reduce them by 10%, the NAO said.
Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said: “Antimicrobial resistance presents a major public health threat and addressing it is a multifaceted challenge.
“Government is responding but, so far, the results have been limited and the country needs to become more resilient to this long-term risk.
“Government needs to consider whether its existing commitments and other efforts across the public sector will be enough to achieve its 20-year vision to contain and control AMR.”
The Covid-19 pandemic and demographic changes have also complicated efforts to combat AMR. Patients are arriving in hospital with more pre-existing conditions and staying for longer, leading to an increase in the potential for opportunistic infections, the NAO said.
Crumbling NHS buildings are also making it harder to keep clean and isolate infectious patients.
By 2050, 1.91 million people a year are forecast to die worldwide directly because of AMR, up from 1.14 million in 2021. AMR will play some role in 8.2 million deaths annually, up from 4.71 million.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: “The world needs to take the problem of antimicrobial resistance seriously, and the UK government must lead by example.
“While the UK has been bold in its ambitions to try to address this issue, progress so far has been limited and public awareness is low. In the shadow of Covid-19, this silent pandemic deserves equal attention to safeguard public health and the NHS.
“Unless measurable change to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance is achieved, there remains a grave threat to human life and society as we know it.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said it recognised that AMR was a “serious global threat” and had a plan to tackle it.
“We have made important progress, including reducing antibiotic use in meat and pioneering a world-first subscription model to incentivise the development of new treatments,” a spokesperson added.
