MHRA Opens Patient Safety Essay Competition to Pharmacy Students and Promotes Yellow Card Reporting
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched its 2026 national patient safety essay competition on 2 November 2026 to coincide with MedSafetyWeek. This year, the UK regulator opened the contest to pharmacy students as well as medical students. Entrants must write up to 2,000 words on how the Yellow Card scheme can identify risks from artificial intelligence used in medical devices. The deadline for submissions is 11 January 2027, with top prizes including £500 and the chance to present to national safety committees. At the same time, the MHRA is urging patients, carers, and healthcare workers to report suspected side effects and equipment faults. You do not need to prove a product caused a problem before making a report. By gathering real-world reporting on medicines, devices, and AI technologies, the agency aims to spot unexpected safety issues early and protect patients from potential harm.
What was announced
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) started its 2026 patient safety essay competition on 2 November 2026. The contest focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) in medical devices. Following demand after last year's launch, the agency expanded eligibility to include UK pharmacy students alongside medical students.
Participants have until 11 January 2027 to submit essays up to 2,000 words. Six prizes are available, including a £500 first prize in each category. Winners will also present their work to the Commission on Human Medicines and the Interim Devices Working Group. Alongside the competition, the MHRA launched its campaign for MedSafetyWeek, which runs from 2 to 8 November 2026 across more than 120 countries.
What it means
Patients, carers, and healthcare staff can submit safety reports through the online Yellow Card scheme or app. Anyone may submit a report for suspected side effects from medicines, vaccines, e-cigarettes, or faults in medical devices. The MHRA stated that reporters do not need certainty or proof that a product caused a problem.
The agency highlighted that safety reports for medical devices and AI tools are currently low. First-hand entries give regulators real-world evidence to spot unexpected side effects or device failures. The essay competition aims to get future doctors and pharmacists thinking about how to track safety risks as AI tools become common in daily clinical care.
What the announcement does not tell us
The press release leaves several details unstated. It does not explain how many total entries will be chosen as winners across the pharmacy and medical categories beyond listing six available prizes. Specific criteria used by judges to evaluate the essays are not detailed in the text.
Additionally, the agency does not provide exact figures on current reporting rates for AI-enabled medical devices, stating only that they are low. The announcement also omits how the agency will measure whether the MedSafetyWeek campaign increases overall Yellow Card submissions.
How this was written
This analysis was written with AI from the official announcement below, using only facts that announcement states. The quoted wording is gov.uk: Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s own. Always check the original before acting on anything here.
The MHRA reminds patients, parents, carers and healthcare professionals to report suspected side effects through the Yellow Card scheme for MedSafetyWeek 2026.
Opens www.gov.uk
More from gov.uk: Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
- MHRA sets out approach to strengthen patient and public involvement and engagement in medicines and medical device regulation5 November 2026
- MHRA guidance on its assessment of non-clinical data generated outside OECD system4 November 2026
- Clinical trials for medicines: Inclusion and Diversity Plan pilot findings published3 November 2026
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