Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will conduct a review into (a) the adequacy of the level of public understanding of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's Yellow Card reporting system and (b) any changes needed to help increase public understanding of that reporting system.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recognises the importance of public understanding of and access to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, so that any member of the public is able to promptly report any concerns they have about the safety of healthcare products. The MHRA monitors the number of reports it receives from members of the public and strives to keep improving the public understanding of the reporting system. The MHRA continually works to encourage reporting of any safety concerns to the Yellow Card scheme and to help improve the safe use of medicines and medical devices for everyone.

A sharp increase in reporting, mainly from patients, has been seen due to better awareness of the scheme following significant communications activity at the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. MHRA works with key partners to include information about the Yellow Card scheme to be given to recipients of medical products, coupled with MHRA campaigns and outreach work that generates media coverage.