Yellow Card reporting in East London NHS Foundation Trust (13 June 2025)

Summary

The Yellow Card scheme is a system for reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs) from medicines or adverse incidents with medical devices in the UK, ensuring that these products are safe for both healthcare professionals and patients. Reporting these issues helps the MHRA to identify new safety concerns, review products and take action to minimise risks. Despite the role of the Yellow Card reporting system in pharmacovigilance in the UK, understanding and uptake of the scheme remains limited.

The authors designed a survey to explore healthcare professionals’ awareness, usage and perceptions of the Yellow Card Scheme for reporting ADRs. It was aimed at identifying current levels of engagement, perceived barriers to reporting, confidence in identifying ADRs and opportunities for improving reporting practices within the East London NHS Foundation Trust.

Content

The survey results showed that 84% were aware of the Yellow Card scheme, with 52% selecting that they were ‘fully aware’. A total of 16% of those asked had never heard of the scheme. 

Despite awareness of the scheme, actual usage is very low — 76% have never reported and 12% were unsure if they had reported, suggesting underutilisation of the scheme. Reporting is infrequent: no respondents report regularly; 12% report a few times a year and 20% have only reported one or twice in total.

When asked about barriers to reporting, participants selected: 

• Lack of awareness.
• Uncertainty about what qualifies as reportable.
• Lack of time. .
• Belief that someone else is responsible.