Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the yellow card system for reporting medical harms does not include (a) Graded Exercise Therapy and (b) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

The Yellow Card Scheme is the United Kingdom system for collecting and monitoring information on suspected Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs). The Yellow Card scheme collects suspected ADR reports from the whole of the United Kingdom in relation to all medicines and vaccines, and also collects adverse incidents on medical devices.

As cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) are both non-pharmaceutical or medical device treatments, any harms associated with them would not be reported to the Yellow Card Scheme.

It is the responsibility of health professionals, in collaboration with their patients and with reference to guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in England or equivalent local guidelines to make decisions about appropriate care and treatment. Treatment programmes that include GET and CBT should be reviewed regularly and healthcare professionals should advise patients to contact them if they experience a prolonged increase in symptoms after starting a specialist programme, or if symptoms are severe or distressing.