§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistical information is collected by the Medicines Control Agency to enable it to monitor the adverse effects associated with inappropriate use and overuse of medication. [32661]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 6 February 2002]: Reports of adverse effects to medicines are collated by the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) through the spontaneous reporting scheme, the Yellow Card Scheme. Although the main focus of this scheme is the early detection of previously unrecognised adverse reactions to medicines in normal clinical use, the Yellow Card Scheme does collect reports of adverse events arising from overdose or maladministration. A number of articles have been published in the regular bulletin "Current Problems in Pharmacovigilance" to alert health professionals to concerns in relation to specific medicines.
Guidance on the use and side effects of medicines is provided to patients in the "Patient Information Leaflet" which accompanies the medicine. The MCA and the CSM continually monitor the safety of all medicines to ensure that the product information contains appropriate and up-to-date guidance on safe, correct use at the recommended dose and warnings about side effects.