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Previous work based on guidelines and expert opinion identified ‘ideal’ prescribing proportions—the overall proportion of consultations that should result in an antibiotic prescription—for common infectious conditions. Here, actual condition-specific prescribing proportions in primary care in England were compared with ideal prescribing proportions identified by experts.

All recorded consultations for common infectious conditions (cough, bronchitis, exacerbations of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sore throat, rhinosinusitis, otitis media, lower respiratory tract infection, upper respiratory tract infection, influenza-like illness, urinary tract infection, impetigo, acne, gastroenteritis) for 2013–15 were extracted from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. The proportions of consultations resulting in an antibiotic prescription were …