PATIENT Safety Minister meets campaigners to discuss financial redress for mesh-injured women

Patient advocates Sling The Mesh met with Baroness Gillian Merron, the Minister for Patient Safety, to discuss financial redress options for women injured by pelvic mesh implants.

The meeting marks a significant step forward in recognising the profound harm suffered by thousands of women across the UK and the urgent need for redress to address the physical, mental, and financial toll of their injuries.

Pelvic mesh implants, including rectopexy mesh, were widely used to treat conditions such as pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, but have left many women with debilitating pain, organ damage, autoimmune disease and other life-altering complications.

Despite years of campaigning for justice, affected women have faced mounting medical costs, lost income, lost pensions, and faced a diminished quality of life – with little financial support.

Kath Sansom, founder of Sling The Mesh, said: “The government must act with speed to provide financial redress. Many women have their PIP applications turned down even though they are severely injured, hundreds have lost relationships, their jobs, their pensions. Some have had to sell their homes to live with family as they can’t afford mortgage payments anymore.”

She added: “We were all innocent players in this appalling story which has taken a heavy toll on women, including financially. We trusted in a medical system that should have protected us. Instead, women have lost so much. Women harmed by mesh implants deserve financial redress to help rebuild their lives and gain some measure of justice for the suffering they’ve endured.”

The meeting focused on potential pathways for redress and heard of the urgency in addressing the issue, with many struggling to afford ongoing medical treatment and getting trapped in cycles of financial worry due to their injuries.

Chris Vince, MP for Harlow, said: “The stories I have heard from constituents impacted by the mesh scandal have been truly heartbreaking. I was pleased to secure a debate in Westminster on the issue and that it has cross-party support. I will continue to work with other MP’s and Ministers to ensure all the victims of the pelvic mesh scandal get the justice they deserve.”

One of the leading voices in Parliament supporting the cause, MP Sharon Hodgson, whose mam had had her life changed forever due to mesh, underscored the importance of the financial redress initiative.

Sharon said: “It is crucial that women who have been harmed by pelvic mesh implants receive the compensation they so desperately need and deserve. These women’s lives have been shattered, through no fault of their own. It is our duty to ensure that they are not left to shoulder the burden alone. I fully support the bringing this issue to light and pushing for meaningful redress.”

Rt Hon. Sir Julian Lewis, MP for New Forest East, who supports women in his local area who have been harmed by mesh, said: “The female mesh implant scandal is an ongoing NHS disaster. Constituents have been seriously injured, left permanently in pain, and forced to spend thousands of pounds on remedial surgery, with at best only partial success. They deserve substantial compensation and a serious research effort by the NHS to find new ways of safely removing these dreadfully damaging implants.”

Rt Hon. Sir Alec Shelbrooke MP, for Wetherby and Easingwold, who has also supported women in Parliament for many years, added: “Medical misogyny plays a key part in this horrific scandal. Women were butchered, through no fault of their own. Most were not given fully informed consent. It is vital they are compensated financially and as soon as possible. They must not wait as the victims of the Thalidomide, infected blood and Post Office scandals have been forced to.”

MP Sarah Green, for Amersham and Chesham, who supports her local mesh inured constituents added: “It is past time that mesh victims receive the redress they need and deserve. In February 2024 the Hughes Report by the Patient Safety Commissioner outlined how such a scheme could work. The Government now just need to deliver it.”

The meeting concluded with a commitment to further discussions and collaboration between the government and campaign groups to explore viable financial redress models and ensure no woman is left behind.

In a recent Westminster debate about pelvic mesh held on 5 December, 2024, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, MP Andrew Gwynne, closed by making a commitment to move financial redress forward at pace.

He said: “The previous Government were too slow on that (redress). It is a priority for this Government. We are working at pace, and we remain focused on making meaningful progress.” See Column 175 onwards Cumberlege Review: Pelvic Mesh – Hansard – UK Parliament