Nursing home residents aged 75 and over receive twice as many antibiotics as those of the same age living in their own homes, potentially harming their health and contributing to the growing problem of drug-resistant superbugs, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).

Routine dipstick testing of residents in nursing homes is leading to largescale over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs), when in actual fact the presence of bacteria in urine is a common finding in the elderly and on its own does not mean the resident has a UTI or needs antibiotics.

Pharmacists employed to train nursing home staff in Bath to reduce the reliance on dipstick testing and to take residents’ symptoms into account when diagnosing a UTI reduced inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in over 50 per cent of residents and cut unplanned admissions to hospital.

Calling for the roll out of this successful project across the country, RPS England board chair Sandra Gidley said: “If pharmacists had responsibility for how all medicines are used in nursing homes they could improve the care of residents, reduce the use of antibiotics and help prevent antibiotic resistance.”

• The RPS has recently welcomed NHS England’s plans to fund 60 pharmacy technicians to work in care homes to help reduce over-medication and unnecessary hospital stays.