14 November 2022: Raine - C

There remained the matter of core participant questions, or question (singular) since there was only one;

On the Yellow Card Scheme and how the public get to know about it; she said there were campaigns, but these compete with all the other posters in a GP surgery and other approaches. It may be that as an act of civic responsibility, the Scheme can be taught about in schools.

The Chair asked a question arising from the previous question. He recognised the example of a pill having an immediate effect but wondered about what happens if the effects are longer term and harder to link the cause and effect. In these cases, it is harder to see the usefulness of the patient using the Scheme, but hopefully the clinicians after seeing a number of patients would recognise the pattern and report it themselves. Even if this is just a suspicion, they welcome that.

The witness expressed her sympathy resulting from this terrible tragedy. She wanted to strengthen her agencies efforts to try to ensure something like this never happens again. She wanted to see an environment of greater openness and transparency which puts patients interests at the heart of what they do.

The Chair thanked the witness, in particular her clarity yet without over-elaboration. He said she was like a “model witness”.

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