Pharmacy First: ESPAUR report provides insight into antimicrobial supply from pharmacies

The UK Health Security Agency has published the English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR) report for 2024/25.

This year, the report includes data on antibiotics supplied to patients following a Pharmacy First clinical pathway consultation. This data is taken from the ePact2 antimicrobial stewardship Pharmacy First dashboard. From April 2024 to March 2025:

• Over 2.3 million Pharmacy First consultations were provided for the seven clinical pathways.
• 97% of all consultations were face to face.
• 15-55% of consultations did not result in the supply of an antimicrobial.
• Urinary tract infection was the most common clinical pathway provided; however, no change in resistance to nitrofurantoin was observed between 2023 (2.1%) and 2024 (2.2%) following the introduction of nitrofurantoin supply via Pharmacy First.
• The majority of antibiotics prescribed in 2024 were in primary care (79.6%), within which Pharmacy First accounted for just 4%.

Overview of Pharmacy First service in England during the 12 months, April 2024 to March 2025 

Below is the infographic from the ESPAUR report on Pharmacy First, which summarises some of the main insights from the report.

Read the ESPAUR report for 2024/25