Freedom of Information request about adverse drug reactions in Northern Ireland (FOI-21-459)
Published 28 June 2021
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Thank you for your FOI request dated 21st April 2021, where you requested the following information:
“The reporting figures for Northern Ireland for the Year 2020 and the Year 2019, firstly just as a total figure for each year and then with a breakdown of profession for each Trust and Primary Care. If possible including if any of the hospital healthcare professionals were physiotherapists or optometrists. I would also like to focus on a three month period for comparison purposes. Could I additionally request reporting figures in the same breakdown as above (profession for each Trust and Primary Care) but for September 2019 to November 2019 and the same period in 2020.”
All of the data provided within this response relates to UK spontaneous suspected Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) reports received directly from healthcare professionals (not via pharmaceutical companies) by the MHRA. Please note that the accuracy of the data relies on the postcode being provided by the reporter. Where reporters have only provided an email address and not a postal address these reports will not be included in the numbers provided.
Please find attached an Annex containing seven tables which detail the information you requested. In your request you mentioned that you were particularly interested in numbers of Yellow Card reports received from optometrists and physiotherapists. I can confirm that we do not have any reports within the parameters of your request reported by optometrists. Physiotherapist is not currently within the list available to reporters, however as you mentioned, reporters can enter profession when Other Healthcare Professional is selected. From the reports which were received during this period, I can confirm that one reporter has detailed their profession as ‘Advanced Practitioner Physiotherapist’.
I hope that you will find this information useful. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your contribution to the Yellow Card Scheme and look forward to the continued support to raise awareness across Northern Ireland. This will allow us to continually appraise the safety of vaccines and medicines in the UK.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of this response; and can be addressed to this email address.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team,
Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines Division