The Health and Social Care Committee has today published a report on the government’s progress to implement accepted recommendations of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review ‘First Do No Harm’ report.
Linda Millband, head of clinical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors – which has represented hundreds of women and men with surgical mesh claims - said: “Two and a half years on from the publication of the Report, we seem no closer to implementation of Baroness Cumberlege’s recommendations.
“This report seems to kick the can down the road again. Given the Committee’s acknowledgment of the level of distress and pain and the dysfunctional treatment offered to those suffering from mesh, you would have hoped for something more concrete.
“What our mesh-injured clients desperately need is a redress scheme, but the only commitment extracted from the Minister by the Committee is ‘to look at the idea’.
“At this stage of a parliament and with unfulfilled recommendations from a government-commissioned report, the suggestion of a pilot rather than full implementation for healthcare professionals to register interests and payments is disappointing, when they could have called for full scheme implementation.
“References to the benefits of - and the need for - non-invasive treatment to be properly considered before surgery are fine as far as they go, but to bring an end to this medical scandal there needs to be clear direction and this report sadly ducks that.”