The UK is not being flooded with contaminated drugs

Kate Shemirani, a former nurse and campaigner against vaccines, has claimed that there is no national patient safety agency, contaminated drugs are “flooding the UK”, and prescription medication is one of the top three causes of death.

In a post on Facebook she said: “No National patient safety agency. And contaminated drugs flooding the UK. The top 3 causes of death here are heart disease, cancer and prescription medication!”

There is no evidence that prescription medication is one of the top three causes of death. While it’s unclear exactly what is meant about contaminated drugs in the claim there is certainly no evidence they are entering the legal supply chain. Finally, although the National Patient Safety Agency closed in 2012, its functions were transferred to various bodies including NHS England and NHS Resolution.

No evidence contaminated drugs are entering the legal supply chain

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) chief healthcare quality and access officer Dr Laura Squire told Full Fact: “We have no evidence that suggests contaminated medicines are entering the legal supply chain in the UK.

“There is a comprehensive system in place to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines, and this includes rigorous checks to prevent contaminated medicines entering the legal supply chain.”

The MHRA is running a #FakeMeds campaign to help the public avoid fake and substandard medical products when they shop online. Its website warns that fake medicines and medical devices bought online can lead to “serious negative health consequences”.

Suspected fake medicines or devices or side effects can be reported through the organisation’s Yellow Card scheme.

The top three leading causes of death

In the post Ms Shemirani also claims that the top three causes of death are “heart disease, cancer and prescription medication”.

It is not clear if she is talking about England or the UK as a whole, but in either case it’s not correct.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the top three leading causes of death (based on the five-year average for 2017 to 2019, 2021 and 2022) in England were dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, ischaemic heart diseases, and chronic lower respiratory diseases, by age-standardised mortality rates.

The ONS breaks its data down into various different cancers, or malignant neoplasms, but if all of these categories were added together cancer would have been the leading cause of death in England in February 2023. So while Ms Shemirani is correct to say cancer and heart disease are leading causes of death, she wrongly omits dementia and Alzheimer’s and includes prescription medication.

In a separate report the ONS found that in the UK between 2001 and 2018 ischaemic heart diseases were the leading cause of death in males, while dementia and Alzheimer’s disease had become the leading cause of death in females.

Full Fact has found an opinion piece and a paper, both written by the same author, claiming prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death in the US and Europe. We have contacted Ms Shemirani asking if she was citing specific research in her claim but have not received a response.

But Professor Sir Kent Woods, former MHRA chief executive and former chairman of the European Medicines Agency told Full Fact via the Science Media Centre that: “This assertion is unsupported by the evidence from national mortality data and is simply implausible. 

“The pharmaceutical industry and its products are intensively and continuously monitored by regulatory authorities. These have both the expertise and the independence to assess the benefit-risk relationships of marketed pharmaceuticals. 

Is there a national patient safety agency?

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) in England was closed in 2012. 

NHS England confirmed that the NPSA’s functions were transferred to various bodies including itself and the NHS Litigation Authority (now NHS Resolution). NHS England took on responsibility for the functions of collecting information about patient safety incidents that occur in the NHS and using that information to provide advice and guidance to the NHS on reducing risks to patient safety.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB)—the national patient safety investigator for England—told us that NHS England is now also responsible for implementation and oversight of the national NHS patient safety strategy.

This includes the monitoring of medication and prescribing errors that are reported by healthcare providers and staff to the national patient safety monitoring systems. 

HSIB added that patients and the public can report patient safety incidents or concerns through the MHRA’s Yellow Card system.

The Department of Health and Social Care has appointed Dr Henrietta Hughes as the first Patient Safety Commissioner, and plans to establish the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) as an independent statutory body to investigate serious patient safety incidents in England.

So while Ms Shemirani may be correct to claim there is no single body with national oversight of patient safety, it would be wrong to suggest that there are no organisations or officials with this responsibility.

Image courtesy of Roberto Sorin