The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has partnered with the Department for Education (DfE) to include information on how to report medicine side effects through its Yellow Card scheme in the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance used to inform teaching.
The content in the curriculum covers what a side effect is, why it’s important to report problems with medicines, how to submit a Yellow Card report, and who the MHRA are and the work it does.
Patient safety commissioner Professor Henrietta Hughes said it is “excellent” that Yellow Card reporting is on the school curriculum.
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The MHRA chief executive Lawrence Tallon said including the information “ensures every child knows that their voice matters” in helping medicines and devices be “safer for everyone”.
“By equipping young people with knowledge about medicine safety, we’re laying the foundations for a lifetime of safer healthcare,” he added.
The announcement comes on the same day as World Patient Safety Day which emphasises the “need for stronger measures to protect children from preventable harm”.
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The regulator said having medicines safety information included in education will help young people “take charge of their own health” and “speak up when something doesn’t feel right”.
A child-friendly guide has been included in the RSHE statutory guidance that goes through the Yellow Card scheme.
Patient safety minister Zubir Ahmed said the inclusion of MHRA content is giving young people the “knowledge and tools they need to protect themselves and their loved ones”.
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It comes as the MHRA approved a new antibiotic pill for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in females aged 12 years and older who weigh at least 40kg.
And the regulator revealed in June that 10 patients have died in the UK with pancreatitis linked to weight loss drugs.
