Patients to report equipment problems
Diagnostic testing equipment and medical devices are included in
the MHRA’s remit |
Patients are to be encouraged to report problems with medical devices and equipment direct to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Community and hospital pharmacies in England will be sent leaflets and
posters supporting the campaign next week. The leaflets say that patients
or carers should report problems with items such as insulin pens, diagnostic
testing machines or test strips, wheelchairs and incontinence or stoma
supplies. The MHRA wants to know the name of the equipment and its manufacturer,
expiry dates or batch numbers, where and when the product was bought
and what went wrong. Faulty equipment should be retained until the MHRA
has been informed. Patients will be encouraged to talk to their pharmacists
if they are in doubt about what to report.
Supporting materials are being distributed by PharmacyHealthLink. Miriam
Armstrong, chief executive of PHL, said: “Over the past few years
there has been an increasing range of medical equipment, including in
vitro diagnostics, sold in pharmacies. But, at the same time, there has
been a great deal of uncertainty on the part of users as to where they
can go if things go wrong.”
Reports can be made by telephone (020 7972 8080), e-mail (devices@mhra.gsi.gov.uk),
online (www.mhra.gov.uk) or by post to MHRA, Hannibal House, Elephant
and Castle, London SE1 6TQ. The reporting scheme starts on 5
December. |
