Yellow Card Scheme (UK)
The UK's system for collecting reports of suspected adverse drug reactions, operated by the MHRA. Healthcare professionals and patients can submit Yellow Card reports for any suspected side effects. The scheme is a cornerstone of UK pharmacovigilance and contributes to drug safety monitoring.
Technical Context
The Yellow Card Scheme was established in 1964 following the thalidomide disaster — one of the oldest adverse drug reaction reporting systems in the world. Reports can be submitted by healthcare professionals and the public via the online portal (yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk), mobile app, or paper forms. The MHRA prioritises reports of: reactions to new drugs (marked with a Black Triangle ▼ in UK prescribing information), serious reactions, reactions in children, and delayed drug effects (effects occurring after long-term use). The scheme also accepts reports on defective medicines, counterfeit products, and medical device incidents. Since 2005, direct patient reporting has been encouraged. The MHRA uses statistical signal detection algorithms (similar to EudraVigilance methods) and publishes the Drug Analysis Prints — publicly available listings of all ADR reports for each drug.