MHRA launches patient safety essay competition for MedSafetyWeek
The UK’s MHRA has opened a patient safety essay competition for MedSafetyWeek 2026, inviting medical and pharmacy students to explore AI-related adverse event reporting via the Yellow Card scheme.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has launched its 2026 national patient safety essay competition to coincide with MedSafetyWeek, running from 2 to 8 November 2026. The competition invites UK medical and pharmacy students to submit essays on how the Yellow Card scheme can identify risks linked to AI-enabled medical devices. Entrants must address detection, reporting, and practical improvements to support safer use of AI in healthcare.
The MHRA’s essay competition follows last year’s initiative, which received 68 entries from over 30 medical schools. This year, pharmacy students have been included to reflect their role in medicine safety. Six prizes are available, with first-place winners receiving £500 and an invitation to present at a national meeting of the Commission on Human Medicines and the Interim Devices Working Group.
MedSafetyWeek is an international campaign led by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre and supported by the World Health Organization and other global bodies. The MHRA is urging patients, carers, and healthcare professionals to report suspected side effects through the Yellow Card scheme during the campaign. Reports can be submitted online or via the Yellow Card app, with no requirement to prove causality before reporting.
The MHRA emphasises that every Yellow Card report provides real-world evidence to identify potential safety issues. Healthcare professionals are particularly encouraged to report problems with medical devices, including AI-enabled devices, where reporting rates remain low. The agency stresses that reports do not need to be exhaustive to be valuable and can be made by anyone concerned about a medicine or device.