Key Summary
- Northern Ireland opens sixth UK Yellow Card Centre at Belfast HSCT
- It supports reporting of medicine and device side effects to improve patient safety
- Centre will lead local training and share MHRA safety updates
A new Yellow Card centre has opened in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), becoming the UK’s sixth satellite centre to educate and empower patients as well as health professionals.
Yellow Card reports are vital for MHRA to monitor the quality of medicines and medical devices.
They enable the MHRA to monitor safety concerns such as suspected side effects or adverse incidents involving healthcare products. These include medicines, vaccines, blood factors and immunoglobulin products, medical devices, e-cigarettes and complementary therapies such as homeopathies.
The scheme also collates information about suspected safety concerns involving defective, falsified or fake healthcare products.
Northern Ireland’s new Yellow Card centre is hosted by the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (HSCT) according to the choice of the Department of Health.
“Every report made by a patient, healthcare professional or carer plays a crucial role in helping us to gain further knowledge about the risks of medicines and medical devices in clinical use, and allows us to take action, when necessary, to minimise the risk of harm to patients. Patient safety is our top priority,” said Dr Alison Cave, MHRA chief safety officer.
The selection was based on the excellence of the Trust’s pharmacology department, and their leadership in drug safety engagement and outreach work.
The centre will oversee patient welfare and suspected adverse incidents reported by health professionals regarding medicines and medical devices.
It ensures routine local training programmes along with efficient promotion of crucial information from MHRA among the professionals and patients.
“Reporting suspected side effects and adverse incidents, including defective or fake healthcare products, to the Yellow Card scheme helps to improve the safety of medicines and medical devices for all patients,” added Dr Cave.
People can report their concerns online or through the Yellow Card app.
“By reporting, you could be helping those who are most vulnerable and at risk of potential harm.”
“The faster you report, the more likely it is that we can intervene and prevent any possible risks to patients,” Dr Cave reminded the public.
