Unique opportunity for healthcare professionals to influence future MHRA safety communications and safety reporting systems
Healthcare professionals asked to share their views on how they want to receive safety information from the UK medicines and medical devices regulator
Healthcare professionals and their professional bodies have a unique opportunity to share their views and influence the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) safety communications and safety reporting systems.
A 14-week public consultation has been launched today to enable healthcare professionals across the UK to have their say on how they wish to receive vital safety information, how they’d like to be engaged, and to feedback on the Yellow Card safety reporting system. Views expressed during the consultation will support healthcare professionals to deliver the best care to patients.
The MHRA is the UK regulator of medicines and medical devices and its engagement with healthcare professionals is crucial in helping get safe and effective medicines and medical devices to patients, in ensuring that patients are adequately informed of the benefits and risks and that safety concerns are reported and can be acted on quickly.
General practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, midwives, specialty care doctors, technicians and other registered medical professionals, including professional bodies and Royal Colleges, are asked to provide views on four key areas. These are: safety reporting systems; MHRA advice and regulatory decisions; awareness and understanding of the MHRA’s safety role; and how easy it is for healthcare professionals to share their views and expertise with the Agency.
Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive, said:
All healthcare professionals want to deliver the best outcomes for patients, and we share this goal. Effective engagement and communication with healthcare professionals are therefore vital for the MHRA to support healthcare professionals and patients to make informed decisions about care and treatment.
It is crucial for us to understand how we can build on and improve our safety communications and reporting systems, to better support healthcare decisions.
We want to learn from a wide range of healthcare professionals and use this to develop a new approach that improves how safety information and reporting systems are communicated and used.
I want to encourage every healthcare professional and representative organisation to respond to this consultation. Learning from your experiences and your views on what we need to improve will give us a clear direction on how to tailor our engagement most effectively.
Details about the consultation, including how to take part
Notes to Editors
- Public consultation on how to communicate medicines and medical devices safety information to healthcare professionals. The consultation is open until 11:45 pm on 18 January 2023.
- The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK. MHRA is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care.