Medicines Governance and Safety

Medicines Safety

There are a number of systems in place within the NHS to ensure and promote the safety of medications for patients. Examples include medication alerts for healthcare staff, reporting systems to identify side effects of medication and reporting systems where a medication incident has occurred and lessons need to be shared to prevent future re-occurrence.

Patient Safety Alerts

Patient safety alerts are produced by NHS England to rapidly alert the healthcare system to risks and provide guidance on preventing potential incidents that may lead to harm or death. These incidents are identified using their reporting system to spot emerging patterns at a national level, so that appropriate guidance can be developed and issued to protect patients from harm.

Patient safety alerts are issued via the Central Alerting System (CAS), a web-based cascading system for issuing alerts, important public health messages and other safety critical information and guidance to the NHS and other organisations, including independent providers of health and social care.

Additional information available on the CAS website includes Chief Medical Officer messages, drug alerts, Dear Doctor letters and Medical Device Alerts.

Yellow card scheme

If you suspect an adverse reaction you or your patient is experiencing may be related to a medication, vaccine or complementary remedy then this can be reported via https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk . This site also allows you to report medical devices that may be defective, or if you believe the medication to be defective or not genuine i.e. a counterfeit product.

Medication incidents

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