GPs are urged to report adverse drug reactions after a 37% slump over nine years

GPs and the UK public are being urged to increase their reporting of suspected side effects of drugs through the “yellow card” scheme after the latest figures showed that reporting was down among these groups.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) collects around 25 000 reports each year under the scheme, which was set up in the 1960s after the thalidomide scandal. But reports from GPs fell from 5578 in 2003 to 3511 in 2012. Reports from members of the public fell from a high of 3584 in 2006 to 1789 in …