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Letters to the Editor
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Adverse reactions
Yellow card reporting
From Mr T. Maguire, MPSNI
I am grateful for the PJ’s timely reminder for pharmacists of
our responsibility
to submit yellow card reports (PJ, 29 October, p536).
There was a modest improvement in the number of reports submitted last
year but I regret to say this was from a low baseline and we must do
better.
Hospital pharmacists make reports more frequently than community pharmacists
and this is perhaps unsurprising given their greater clinical involvement.
However, medicines use reviews and other aspects of the new pharmacy
contract will bring adverse drug reactions more to the attention of all
pharmacists and these must be reported, particularly those involving
over-the-counter medicines or herbal remedies, two areas for which community
pharmacists have a particular responsibility.
Obtaining yellow card reporting rights for pharmacists was hard fought
by the profession so it is somewhat disappointing that we have not been
making more reports. Reports remain an important source of ADR signals,
particularly for new medicines, and directly contribute to the ongoing
risk-benefit assessment of medicines on the UK market and, increasingly,
on the European one.
Many were sceptical about the introduction of patient yellow card reporting
but the pilots have been encouraging and reports have been of a high
quality. There were concerns, for example, that lobby groups might hijack
the scheme, encouraging massive reporting to support specific cases.
This fear will largely be irrelevant in the way the data can be managed.
Medicines remain a source of considerable morbidity and mortality — the
fourth most common cause of death in the US and possibly in the UK. We
must do all we can to reduce the impact of ADRs. Committing ourselves
to identifying ADRs and, where appropriate, submitting yellow card reports
will go some way towards realising our role and responsibility in this
important area of public health.
Terry Maguire
Vice-chairman, PharmacyHealthLink
Member of Committee on Safety of Medicines
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal