The Yellow Card Scheme

Spontaneous reporting of side-effects to medicines is an important method of monitoring the safety of medicines throughout their marketed life. For many years health professionals have made a valuable contribution to this process by reporting suspected adverse drug reactions to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK medicines regulatory body, via the Yellow Card scheme.

In February 2008, members of the public were welcomed as established reporters to the ‘Yellow Card scheme’ after a successful nationwide pilot. At the time of launch there was a national publicity campaign, which resulted in a significant number of reports from members of the public. Although the official publicity campaign is now complete, the MHRA encourages healthcare professionals to talk to their patients (carers and parents) about the Yellow Card scheme. Through helping to raise awareness of the Yellow Card scheme and through increased reporting by all, we can help to continually safeguard public health and to help patients have a better understanding of the medicines they are taking.

Click here for further details, from the yellow card scheme’s website.