UK counts cost of drug AE events

The UK's National Health Service is facing a "soaring toll" of patients suffering from prescription drug adverse events, according to the Daily Mail. Recently-published figures for 2006 reveal that the number of hospitalizations allegedly triggered by a drug side effect reached 4,635 versus 4,429 two years previously, a rise of 4.7%. The number of deaths attributed to pharmaceutical drug reactions increased significantly from 861 in 2004 to 964 in 2006, almost 12%. In total, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) reported over 20,000 cases of adverse events from prescription, over-the-counter and herbal medicines.

Peter Walsh, representing Action Against Medical Accidents, blamed inadequate physician training and the recent decision to allow nurses to prescribe some drugs. The UK's Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo, stated that the number of adverse events is impossible to estimate. She argued that the notification system relies on an unknown degree of under-reporting, as well as the problem that some events where a drug was reported may have had another cause.

The government confirmed that L592.0 million ($1.18 billion) was spent by the NHS in 2006 on handling negligence claims.