This World Patient
Safety Day, 17 September 2024, the Medicines and Healthcare
products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launches a new three-year
Strategy for Improving
Safety Communications, which aims to transform the way we
provide information about the risks and safety of medicines,
medical devices and healthcare products in the UK to support
effective implementation of new safety measures.
Effective communication is essential so that patients are
informed of and understand the benefits and risks of medicines
and devices they are using, to assist healthcare professionals in
best protecting their patients, and to maintain confidence in
medical products, the broader health system, and the MHRA.
Healthcare professionals need the latest safety information to
advise and support their patients, and we have listened to their
feedback in bringing improvements to our communications and
systems. Our strategy is underpinned by the findings of our
recent consultation with
healthcare professionals and healthcare organisations.
The three-year strategy will deliver to patients and healthcare
professionals more co-ordinated, targeted, and impactful safety
communications, when they need it, using the best possible
communication channels.
The new strategy aims to build on the MHRA's transformed approach
to safety following the 2020 Independent Medicines and
Medical Devices Safety Review. This called for strengthening
the MHRA's processes for monitoring the safety of medicines and
medical devices and better working with other bodies to support
changes being embedded without delay in clinical practice.
Dr Alison Cave, Chief Safety Officer at the MHRA,
said:
Our new Strategy for Improving Safety Communications will help us
ensure patients are better informed about the benefits and risks
of medical products.
We continue to listen to and shape our work in the light of
feedback from patients, the public, healthcare professionals and
external experts to ensure that we continue to support all those
with whom we work to improve patient safety.
Major initiatives within the strategy
In the consultation, healthcare professionals raised their
workload and time pressures, and the volume of safety warnings
they receive. We will therefore launch a new MHRA Safety ‘round
up' bulletin to bring together safety advice communicated by the
MHRA each month across all the medical products we regulate. We
will also continue to issue safety communications throughout the
month in a targeted way, to anyone who wishes to receive them.
Healthcare professionals who took part in the consultation asked
for more information about the MHRA's safety warnings and how
they should be actioned. We will launch campaigns to raise
awareness of the role of the MHRA and the importance of our
safety communications.
Many organisations asked the MHRA to have better avenues for
feedback on new safety warnings. We will build closer
relationships with healthcare organisations and with healthcare
professionals, to ensure our advice is actionable and informed by
their needs.
The MHRA will also continue to build and increase its direct
reach to patients, including through use of innovative mechanisms
and communication methods that are tailored to their needs. To
inform our approaches, there will be a further consultation with
patients and patient representatives next year.
