Confidence in UK medicine safety high
pharmafile | December 15, 2006 | News story | |Â Â Â
After heavy criticism of UK medicines regulator the MHRA last year, a new survey found there is widespread confidence in the safety of the country's medicines.
Nearly 90% of the general public are happy with the safety of the medicines prescribed to them and a similar percentage of doctors believe the drugs they prescribe are adequately regulated.
The survey also found the recognition of the role of the regulator was low in both groups – only 2% of British adults could identify the MHRA as the UK's drug regulator compared with only 20% of doctors. However, awareness was better among pharmacists – 52% of whom knew what the MHRA did.
There were good, but not outstanding, results when it came to the reporting of problems with prescription medicines. More than 80% of GPs and pharmacists said they would notify the MHRA or use its Yellow Card system but only 60% of hospital doctors and a quarter of nurses would do so.
Prof Kent Woods, chief executive of the MHRA, said: "We welcome these findings and are reassured by the public's confidence in medicines and medical devices. We are equally encouraged by some of the views of healthcare professionals, especially their awareness of reporting problems."
He added: "This research shows us some of the gaps in knowledge of our work, such as the reporting of adverse incidents with medical devices, and we are now looking for the best ways of increasing the understanding both of the public and of healthcare professionals about our work."
The survey was carried out for the MHRA by Ipsos MORI and designed to find out what the public and healthcare professionals thought about the risks and benefits associated with medicines, devices and equipment.
