The public have a key role to play in preventing the spread of life-threatening infections, a hospital consultant says.

Consultant physician Dr Gavin Barlow will give a free public lecture on the need for people to protect antibiotics after seeing the problem worsen since joining Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2004.

Dr Barlow, who leads the trust’s work on antimicrobial stewardship, said: “I will explain to people what antibiotics are, what they are used for and why they are so important to us.

“I’ll explain why it’s so important that we only use them when they are needed and that’s in contrast to the way they are used at the moment because they are being used when they are not needed.

“This is about protecting antibiotics and optimising their use so we reduce the risk of drug-resistance evolution.”

Dr Barlow, who is based at the Department of Infection, will present the lecture on Tuesday, May 1, at 2.30pm in the lecture theatre at Castle Hill Hospital.

People should email membership.team@hey.nhs.uk if they would like to attend the lecture, which starts at 2.30pm, to find out more about antibiotics and the growing problem of multi drug-resistant bacteria.