The newly-published analysis of an antibiotic stewardship programme in an emergency department – of which the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy’s (BSAC) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Antimicrobial Stewardship: Managing Antibiotic Resistance was a major component – has described a ‘significant downward trend’ of rates of Clostridioides difficile infection following its introduction.

Norman Alan Simmons, who died last year on the 27th of November, had a diverse and distinguished career in microbiology, including being a founding member of both BSAC and the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Last week saw the return of our annual Spring Conference 2021 – and what an event it was! Marking BSAC’s 50th anniversary, the two-day event was our biggest yet, including 15 interactive sessions, 28 poster presentations and 9 exhibitors, all taking place in our custom-built virtual platform...

The audited accounts and trustees report for the period ending 30 September 2020, which are submitted to the AGM, are available to view here.

BSAC is inviting expressions of interest for research on: “Translational research of COVID-19 and its impact on infection management, specifically addressing antimicrobial stewardship”.

BSAC is establishing a UK Drug Registry (UKAR) to provide prescribers and organisations the opportunity to capture real world usage of antimicrobial agents and identify where real clinical unmet needs lie. This will provide an invaluable resource for future research studies and also enable the sharing of best practice.

The Officers, Chief Executive, and staff of BSAC are deeply saddened to hear that Sir Paul Cosford, PHE Emeritus Medical Director has died. Sir Paul’s contribution to public health was admirable, considerable and will be greatly missed.

This April, the team from BSAC and JAC are joining a group of fundraisers, including Una Health, Page Medical, as well as a number of other individual fundraisers, to help support our global health initiative, Stop Superbugs.