The overall winning practice with the highest number of returned antibiotics during the 2023 Antibiotic Amnesty campaign was Wilbury Vets, which is located in Hove and is part of veterinary group Linnaeus. Wilbury secured the return of 285 tablets, seven packs of topicals and six bottles of oral suspensions.

Client Care Team Leader at Wilbury Vets, Lauren Cooper, says: “2023 was the first time we participated in the Antibiotic Amnesty. The positive results have definitely influenced us to continue to educate clients on the importance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), not only for the benefit of our client’s pets, but also for people and for the sake of our planet. We are delighted to have been awarded as the winning practice, which is great recognition for the hard work of our whole team.

“We have a strong environmental ethos across Wilbury and are proud be part of the Investors in the Environment accreditation scheme, currently holding the Silver award, and striving towards the Green award. We are mindful of how our actions can make a positive change, which is why we wanted to get involved in the Antibiotic Amnesty campaign.

“Everyone was on board right from the start and recognised the importance of the initiative. As well as encouraging conversations in the consulting room, I also knew how important the role of the front of house team would be, as we are in the perfect position to spread awareness with our clients too. We talked about the amnesty during the dispensing of medicines and added reminders about returning unused product on relevant dispensing labels.

“We also added information about returning unused antibiotics on vaccine reminder communications and used our social media channels to highlight the campaign. We will definitely take part again this year and would encourage other practices to do the same. It is a great way to educate owners and there is a tangible impact when the antibiotics are returned.”

Wilbury Practice Manager, Anne Greenwood, says: “The Amnesty campaign coincided with our audit for the Investors in the Environment Silver award, so the timing couldn’t have been better as we were very focused on our sustainability activity. We made the Amnesty a recurring agenda item at practice meetings and responsible antibiotic use forms a regular part of our team discussions. AMR is a problem in both human and veterinary medicine and the Amnesty is a brilliant way to focus efforts to help prevent inappropriate use and negative impacts on the environment.

“AMR is on our agenda all the time. We always dispense the minimum antibiotic course, regularly discuss appropriate use of antibiotics and are always looking at ways we can educate owners. It feels good to be making a difference.”