Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the potential cost to the NHS of longer (a) treatment times and (b) hospital stays as a result of prescribing less powerful antibiotics as a result of the international shortage of the antibiotic piperacillin-tazobactam.

No such estimate has been made. In response to the shortage of piperacillin-tazobactam, the Department has been working with national antimicrobial leads through Public Health England and the Department’s Expert Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Prescribing Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections who published guidance on appropriate alternative treatment options to ensure that any impact on patient care has been minimised. This guidance provided recommendations on the different broad spectrum antibiotics, or a combination of narrower spectrum antibiotics that can be used to treat the range of infections for which piperacillin-tazobactam is licensed.