We are now over 365 days post publication of the Hughes report, which poses the question: what has happened as a result?
It is disappointing to know that the answer is — not much! In February 2024, our Patient Safety Commissioner Henrietta Hughes published her landmark report which set out options for providing redress for those harmed by pelvic mesh and the epilepsy medicine valproate.
Baroness Cumberlege’s Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, published in 2020, had already provided us with the failures in both cases. The purpose of the Hughes report, therefore, was to provide the final puzzle piece to push for compensation.
Yet, one year on we are yet to receive an official government response or a statement which sets out a decision on compensation — leaving thousands of women and children in the dark.
Amongst those thousands of women, is my own mam, who is a victim of the mesh scandal. Flashback to 2017, when I was shadow public health minister I came across the mesh scandal through my research for a debate I had to respond to.
I knew that my mam had had some minor stress incontinence but wasn’t aware she had what she would later describe as a ‘quick’ 20 minute in and out ‘tape’ surgery to correct her stress incontinence. But a few years post-surgery she had recurrent urinary tract infections and was in constant pain all of the time in her groin, arms, and legs and what we later realised was all sorts of autoimmune reactions. It was only when I was showing her one of my parliamentary debates, which she always liked to watch, that we joined the dots together.
From that day on, both her and I have done nothing but wish she never went for the surgery. But this has helped fuel my motivation for the parliamentary campaigning I have done since.
As Chair of the All-Party-Parliamentary-Group on ‘First Do No Harm – Mesh, Primodos, Valproate’ I bring Members of Parliament from across the House together to discuss this issue and grab every opportunity to lobby and push the governments, both former and current, to accept the Cumberlege First Do No Harm and Hughes recommendations and finally pay redress to those harmed.
One of these political opportunities arose last week, as I led a Westminster Hall debate in parliament, entitled: ‘That this House has considered the first anniversary of the Hughes report on valproate and pelvic mesh.’ The debate was packed full of Members of Parliament from all parties and the public gallery was filled with campaigners and victims of the scandals themselves, as well as the wonderful Patient Safety Commissioner herself of course, who were all watching eagerly for the minister’s response.
In the debate there was consensus amongst all parliamentarians of the injustice of both scandals and the subsequent urgent need for compensation. I felt lucky to have the support of esteemed colleagues who all delivered their speeches with passion and conviction. It truly was an example of parliament at its best, as we all put our differences aside and came together for the thousands of women and children whose lives have been damaged irreversibly through no fault of their own.
Almost every parliamentarian that spoke had a constituent impacted by either mesh or sodium valproate which, for anyone who remains unconvinced, will have highlighted the gravity of this scandal. Because it wasn’t just one woman who had been adversely affected by mesh or not been informed of the risks in the first place. It wasn’t just one woman who was gaslit and made to feel hysterical when she rightly raised concerns post-surgery. It wasn’t just one woman who was told it would be perfectly fine to take epileptic medication while pregnant, which then left her child with a range of birth defects, developmental delays, and neurodevelopment issues. It was many, many thousands. This was a systemic failure – a failure of medical regulation, a failure of governments to listen, a failure of healthcare structures to take women seriously.
With a new Labour government comes a fresh start and an opportunity to put this right. Last week marked one of those opportunities. While the minister was unable to give us a timeline of a government response to the Hughes Report there and then, she issued a heartfelt, genuine and touching apology to the thousands of women and children who fell victim to these scandals. I know for every one of them that may have been listening, just how much it would have meant. I know how much it meant to my own mam. For women who have been told time and time again that their symptoms are all in their head, that apology would have at last validated their pain and suffering. I felt immense pride and gratitude watching my Hon. friend apologise, not because she had to or for performative purposes — but because she truly cared.
However, this apology must not be the end. It must be used as ground for the minister to go back to her department and push even further and faster for a government response to the Hughes report. Every government has defining moments, this will be one of them. We have a real opportunity as a new government to make a difference and to be able to look back in years to come and know that we played a huge part in restorative justice.
But more importantly — in bringing stability back to the lives of those who never consented to the damage that has been inflicted upon them. For me, there isn’t a greater measure of success than that.
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Source: Politics
