UTIs cost NHS hospitals over £600m last year
Lack of precision specimens lead to unreliable diagnoses and treatment
“The news that UTIs are costing the NHS such a terrific amount of money is unsurprising,” says Giovanna Forte, CEO of Forte Medical.
“Given the Primary Care flow chart for diagnosing and treating a UTI omits to mention precision, guideline-compliant midstream urine when instructing the HCP to “take a urine sample” accurate analysis, diagnosis and treatment is simply not going to happen.”
Forte Medical asks why the Primary Care Diagnostic pathway fails to join the dots between precision diagnosis, sample integrity and the problems resulting from untreated or poorly treated UTI? Not to mention huge unwarranted cost.
Women can now get a broad spectrum antibiotic over the counter for UTI without a formal diagnosis. Inappropriate antibiotic use fuels Antimicrobial Resistance, is unlikely to treat the cause of infection, can lead to a worsening condition, Sepsis and as we see here, hospitalisation.
With 10m women a year presenting with UTI, someone at the top must take a lead on this massive, overlooked and ignored issue around women’s health.