Patients and professionals urged to use the Yellow Card Scheme to raise concerns

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is encouraging patients and healthcare professionals to use the Yellow Card Scheme to report side effects from medicines, healthcare products and medical devices.

#MedSafetyWeek is an international annual social media campaign that takes place around November each year, each campaign’s theme revolves around encouraging the reporting of suspected side effects.

This year, the global campaign was “Don’t ignore suspected side effects, report them”, and in the UK the MHRA encouraged patients and healthcare professionals to report safety concerns to the Yellow Card Scheme. The #MedSafetyWeek for 2026 took place 2-8 November and was the eleventh annual campaign to take place and over 130 organisations from over 120 countries were expected to take part, sharing medicines safety messages in an estimated 60 languages.

The campaign is led by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre, the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring, the MHRA has been part of the planning team for the campaign since it began.

The #MedSafetyWeek campaign is supported by the World Health Organisation, members of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities as well as other national and international organisations interested in medicine safety.

As part of the campaign, the MHRA reminded healthcare professionals that they can access e-learning modules that count for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) credits, which include the new British Pharmacological Society Assessment, a free online learning resource.

Student Essay Competition

As part of bringing wider awareness to the Yellow Card scheme, the MHRA opened this year’s Patient Safety Essay Competition.

The MHRA started the competition last year, and in response to numerous requests, has opened the 2026 competition to include pharmacy students as the MHRA recognises the ‘vital role’ pharmacy professionals have in safety around medicines.

The competition’s question focuses on the safe use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve reporting through the Yellow Card Scheme, and the safe use of AI-enabled medical devices.

The safe use of AI is a timely topic as the role of technology has been widely discussed as part of the NHS’ 10 Year Health Plan for England. The plan aims to make the most of the opportunities brought about by new technologies and recently saw the rollout of new NHS app prescription alerts to help reduce admin for staff and give patients greater control over their healthcare.

There are six prizes to be won, the First Prize winners of each category of the essay competition will receive £500 and an invitation to present their essay at a national meeting of the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), the independent advisory body on medicine safety, and the Interim Devices Working Group (IDWG).

UK medical students and pharmacy students are invited to take part in the competition, submissions close on Monday 11 January 2027.

‘Every Yellow Card Report Matters’

Information from the MHRA says you can report the following concerns online at yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk or through the Yellow Card app:

• Suspected side effects from medicines, vaccines, herbal remedies, homoeopathic products or e-cigarette products
• Medical device incidents, including faults, failures or unexpected behaviour
• Suspected defective medicines or concerns about product quality
• Suspected fake or unlicensed medical products, particularly those obtained online or through social media

Alison Cave, Chief Safety Officer at the MHRA, said, “Every Yellow Card report matters. It gives us real-world evidence about how medicines and medical devices are being used and helps us identify possible safety issues that may not have been seen before.

“I’d particularly encourage healthcare professionals to report problems with medical devices, including AI-enabled devices, where we know reporting rates are currently low. As these technologies become more common in clinical practice, this kind of first-hand reporting is vital to help us spot and act on safety issues early. “

Asha Wardle

Asha is a writer at Pavilion Health Today.

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