Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to track outcomes for people who suffer adverse drug reactions resulting from medication errors.

Outcomes for people who are involved in medication patient safety incidents can be reported to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). These reports are used to support improvements in patient safety by enabling the National Health Service to understand and learn from such incidents.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) accepts reports to its Yellow Card scheme where a patient has been harmed as a result of a medication error. When completing a Yellow Card, reporters are specifically asked to select an outcome for each side-effect being reported. Further information, such as outcome, can be requested from reporters if necessary.

Data from the NRLS is shared by NHS England and NHS Improvement with the MHRA for analysis on a weekly basis. Should any important safety issues be identified, regulatory action would be taken, including working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to ensure appropriate dissemination of actions to prevent these harms occurring in the future.