Health Promotion Campaign.

Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Public Health Campaign 2025.

All community pharmacies are required under the 2025/26 contractual framework to take part in two national and two local (ICB-selected) health campaigns.

NHS Northamptonshire ICB has chosen Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness (AMR) as the first local campaign this year.

Campaign dates:

10 November – 7 December 2025 (minimum campaign duration: one week)
(Ideal timing: 18 – 24 November during World AMR Awareness Week)

Campaign tagline:
Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future – Keep Antibiotics Working.

Why this matters:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat. In 2021, AMR directly caused 1.14 million deaths worldwide and costs the NHS around £95 million each year.
Without effective antibiotics, even routine procedures such as hip replacements, caesarean sections, dental work and chemotherapy could become risky.
This campaign supports the national drive to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use and
contributes to the GP Dashboard AMR metric.

What you need to do:
To meet the requirements of this campaign, Pharmacy owners need to select a minimum of
1 action from each of the 3 categories below. Whilst participating in the campaign, please
keep a simple count of patient interactions held during your campaign week(s) and use this
information when reporting your activity by completing the MS Forms.

Category 1: Comms – visual

Action 1: Display posters, leaflets or other promotional materials at the Pharmacy
Action 2: Display posters, leaflets or other promotional materials on the Pharmacy website
Action 3: Display posters, leaflets or other promotional materials on the Pharmacy’s social
media channel(s)

Existing Antibiotic awareness promotional materials or content that you already use within
the pharmacy, on your website or your social media channels would meet this requirement
for this category. For any pharmacies that do not have any relevant marketing materials
already in use, a range of resources to promote antibiotic awareness are available from the
links below, free of charge:
• Keep Antibiotics Working – Campaign Resource Centre
• Super Bodies – Google Drive
• Super Bodies – NHS Cheshire and Merseyside

Category 2: Public information and awareness – consultations

Action 1: Discuss antimicrobial use with patients/parents/carers during Pharmacy First or
any other relevant clinical service consultation
Action 2: Provide patients/parents/carers with relevant leaflet to support the consultation
and/or share relevant online links emphasising the message
Supporting materials can be found here:
• RCGP website Community pharmacy teams may access the TARGET patient information leaflets (developed in collaboration with clinicians and patients) which can be particularly useful during Pharmacy First consultations
• RCGP website – Respiratory tract infection resource suite
• Caring for children with coughs
• Caring for children with coughs leaflet
• When should I worry?
• Super Bodies – Integrated Care Northamptonshire
• Super Bodies – NHS Cheshire and Merseyside

Category 3: Webinar:

Action 1: A minimum of one member of staff (ideally the main Community Pharmacist undertaking Pharmacy First consultations at the Pharmacy) registering and attending the National AMR team webinar “Seen and not heard – a gut feeling antibiotic use and AMR in children is a secondary consideration” (Wednesday 19 November 3:00-4:00).

This webinar has been chosen because 4 out of 7 Pharmacy First clinical pathways include
children and data suggests most of the consultations that were undertaken between April
2024-March 2025 were for children aged between 5-9. There is also a national indicator to
reduce antibiotic use in children and so this webinar supports this initiative.

The link to sign up to the World AMR Awareness Week Webinar can be found here.

We understand time pressures Community Pharmacies face, particularly at this time of year so
registering for the webinar does enable you to receive a recording after the session to watch at your convenience, should you not be available to watch it live.
Attendance at the webinar will also support the Pharmacy Team’s CPD requirements for the
GPhC.

After the campaign:
Once your campaign week(s) are complete, please ensure your participation data is submitted using the MS Form.

USEFUL LINKS