UK appoints Sally Davies as special envoy on antimicrobial resistance

The UK’s chief medical officer, professor Dame Sally Davies has been appointed special envoy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), public health minister Seema Kennedy has announced.

Professor Davies’ role will involve working across the health, agricultural and environmental sectors to deliver what’s being described as a ‘One Health’ response to AMR. Davies’ work so far has been critical in the fight against AMR, helping to place the UK as a world-leader in strategy and advising the UN in her role as co-convenor for the Interagency Coordination Group on AMR.

More so, the government has detailed how it will spend £32 million in funding which was announced last year to accelerate the UK’s work to fight AMR. The funding will now be used by 10 leading research centres to explore new ways to inform prescribing and identify patterns of resistance.

Public Health England (PHE) will lead a project to develop a virtual ‘open access’ centre that will link health outcomes and prescribing data. The technology will gather real-time patient data on resistant infections in an effort to help clinicians make more targeted choices about when to use antibiotics and to cut unnecessary prescriptions.

More so, PHE will use £5 million to build the UK’s first fully functional model ward, to better understand how hospital facilities can be designed to improve infection control and reduce the transmission of antibiotic-resistant infections.

Another £4.4 million will go to Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust to test ‘individualised’ approaches to antibiotic prescribing. The funds will be used to bring together patient care and clinical research.

The University of Liverpool will also use £3.5 million to apply genome sequencing to enable a more personalised approach to antibiotic prescribing.

Public health Minister Seema Kennedy said: “Antibiotic resistance poses an enormous risk to our NHS – we are already seeing the harmful effect resistant bugs can have on patient safety in our hospitals. It is vital that we retain the irreplaceable expertise of Professor Dame Sally Davies – an international expert in AMR – and continue to invest in research.

This funding to prop up the facilities for novel ideas and technologies, supported by the continued leadership of Dame Sally, will play a vital role in helping us to tackle this threat.”

Professor Dame Sally Davies said: “AMR is a complex challenge which needs local, national and global action. The UK should be proud of its world-leading work on AMR. We have made tangible progress but it is essential we maintain momentum. I am honoured to have been asked to continue this vital work on behalf of the UK government.”