- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines are offered to (a) GPs, (b) nurses, (c) pharmacists and (d) hospital-based doctors in respect of reporting adverse drug reactions.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reportingscheme, the Yellow Card Scheme.Guidelines on reporting ofadverse drug reactions through the Yellow Card Scheme are provided to healthprofessionals in the British National Formulary. Health professionals(including doctors, dentists, coroners, pharmacists and nurses) are asked toreport suspected adverse reactions to any therapeutic agents, both prescribedproducts and those available over the counter, including herbal products.Detailed guidelines for health professionals and patients on what to report andhow to report suspected adverse reactions are available
at www.yellowcard.gov.uk.This website also contains an electronic Yellow Card form for reporting ofsuspected adverse reactions.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of reports of adverse drug reactions in Scotland made by (a) GPs, (b) hospital-based doctors, (c) nurses, (d) pharmacists and (e) patients.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.
The MHRA publishes on its website anonymisedaggregated reports of suspected adverse drug reactions received through theYellow Card Scheme. These include data for individual drugs and analysed byreporter type.
The number of reports ofsuspected adverse drug reactions sent to MHRA and the Commission on HumanMedicines via the Yellow Card Scheme from reporters in Scotland in2005, according to type of reporter, is shown in the table.
| Reporter Type | Number of Reports |
| General Practitioner | 492 |
| Hospital doctor | 544 |
| Nurse | 340 |
| Pharmacist | 426 |
| Other healthcare professional | 165 |
| Patient | 63 |
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people died as a result of adverse drug reactions in each of the last 10 years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The information requested isgiven in the following table.
Deaths fromthe Adverse Effects of Drugs and Medicaments in Therapeutic Use1, byNHS Board Area of Residence
| | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Scotland | 17 | 26 | 15 | 19 | 26 | 26 | 29 | 26 | 24 | 20 |
| Argyll and Clyde | - | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | - | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Borders | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 1 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 2 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| Fife | - | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - |
| Forth Valley | - | 3 | - | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | 2 |
| Grampian | - | 4 | 2 | - | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | - | 4 |
| Greater Glasgow | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | - |
| Highland | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Lanarkshire | - | 3 | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Lothian | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Orkney | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Shetland | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Tayside | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Western Isles | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
Note: 1. 1995-99,ICD9 codes E930 - E949; 2000 - 2004, ICD10 codes Y40 - Y59.
The answer gives the numbersof deaths caused by the adverse effects of drugs and medicaments in therapeuticuse. Additionally, drugs and medicaments cause a significant number of deathsby poisoning (mainly associated with drug abuse, accidental poisoning orintentional self-poisoning).
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider researching the barriers to reporting adverse drug reactions, as suggested in the recent British Medical Association report, Reporting Adverse Drug Reactions.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.
The MHRA has welcomed the recent British Medical Association report, ReportingAdverse Drug Reactions. The MHRA and the Commission on Human Medicines arecommitted to promoting the reporting of suspected adverse reactions through theYellow Card Scheme and are considering how best to take the recommendationsforward.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what literature or guidance it provides to patients to ensure that they know how to report an adverse drug reaction.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.
Patients, parents and carerscan report suspected adverse reactions through the Yellow Card Scheme. The MHRAsupplied Yellow Cards for patients to a number of National Health Serviceoutlets including all General Practitioners, community and hospital pharmaciesin autumn 2005. The Yellow Cards provide guidance notes on when and how toreport suspected adverse reactions. Posters were also sent to all outlets withdetails of how to report. The MHRA leaflet Taking medicines - some questionsand answers about side effects also includes information on how to report asuspected adverse reaction. This was launched in December 2005 and the MHRA isworking with the Commission on Human Medicines’ Patient Information ExpertAdvisory Group to discuss how this leaflet and the patient Yellow Card can befurther promoted and made available. The MHRA is also developing acommunication campaign, which includes articles in magazines, and working withvoluntary organisations to promote patient reporting of suspected adversereactions.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many women were treated with (a) prescribed medication and (b) cognitive behavioural therapy for post-natal depression in (i) Scotland, (ii) each NHS board and (iii) each local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how long women needed to wait to receive treatment for post-natal depression in (a) Scotland, (b) each NHS board and (c) each local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answer
The information requested isnot available centrally.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines are offered for monitoring adverse drug reactions in children.
Answer
The regulation and safety ofmedicines are reserved and are the responsibility of the Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA and the Commission onHuman Medicines run the UK’s spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting scheme,the Yellow Card Scheme.Guidelines on reporting ofadverse drug reactions through the Yellow Card Scheme are provided to healthprofessionals in the British National Formulary. Health professionals(including doctors, dentists, coroners, pharmacists and nurses) are asked toreport suspected adverse reactions to any therapeutic agents, both prescribedproducts and those available over the counter, including herbal products.Detailed guidelines for health professionals and patients on what to report andhow to report suspected adverse reactions are available
at www.yellowcard.gov.uk.This website also contains an electronic Yellow Card form for reporting ofsuspected adverse reactions.In relation to adversereactions in children, the guidelines provided in the British NationalFormulary make it clear that reporting of all suspected adverse drugreactions in children is strongly encouraged through the Yellow Card Scheme.This is because less is known about the effect of drugs in children. Similarguidance is available at www.yellowcard.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 24 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25427 by Lewis Macdonald on 8 May 2006, why no complete data on psychiatric discharges are available for 2002-03 to 2004-05.
Answer
Implementation of a newelectronic data collection system resulted in incomplete data sets beingrecorded for the period 2002-03 to 2004-05. Work is underway now with all NHS boardsaffected to resolve this position.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the total NHS budget was spent on (a) mental health services, (b) prescription drugs and (c) anti-depressants in each of the last five years.
Answer
Each NHS board receives ageneral allocation of funds. It is for Boards to decide how best to utilisethese funds to meet the health care needs of their resident population,including mental health services, taking account of national and localpriorities.
The expenditure on mentalhealth services, prescription drugs and anti-depressants as defined above as a% of total NHS budgets, over the previous five years is shown in the following table.
| Financial Year | Expenditure on Mental Health Services as a % of Total NHS Budget1 | Expenditure on Prescription Drugs as a % of Total NHS Budget1,2 | Expenditure on Anti-Depressants as a % of Total NHS Budget1,2 |
| 2004-05 | 9.4% | 13.0% | 1.4% |
| 2003-04 | 10.0% | 16.6% | 1.6% |
| 2002-03 | 10.6% | 14.9% | 1.6% |
| 2001-02 | 10.5% | 14.2% | 1.5% |
| 2000-01 | 9.4% | 12.9% | 1.2% |
Notes:
1. The total NHS budget istaken as the unified revenue allocation for regional health boards and does notinclude special health boards or central expenditure by the health departmentexcept for the State Hospital board, which shows expenditure on mental healthservices and has been included within the mental health expenditure above.
2. The board’s expenditureon prescription drugs and anti-depressants is taken to mean only thoseprescribed by GPs and dispensed by contracted pharmacies or dispensing doctorsand does not include the expenditure on drugs dispensed within hospitals. Theinformation for anti-depressants is provided by the Information ServicesDivision of NHS National Services Scotland.
