A study of patients in Belgium found that when people have a sore throat, what they want is pain relief, but what they ask for is antibiotics.
The conclusion of the authors is that:
Trials are needed to test whether exploring patients’ expectations about pain management and offering adequate analgesia can assist physicians in managing sore throats without prescribing antibiotics.
Personally, I think every consulting room should have a poster listing all the things antibiotics cannot fix, and telling us the long-term risks of overprescription (millions of deaths from scratches…)