What is the campaign about?

What is the campaign about?

Mesh implants are used to treat prolapse, female and male stress incontinence, hernias and some breast reconstructions following mastectomy. It is also used in some animal surgeries.

Surgical mesh is a permanent polypropylene plastic implant used to support weakened tissue, but it can fragment, twist, degrade or shrink to slice into nerves, tissue and organs. The plastic material can cause autoimmune diseases and trigger allergic reactions, including psoriasis, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, Lichen sclerosus, lupus, food allergies and intolerances.

Removing mesh implants is major, complex surgery. Some patients improve, some are worse and others see no difference – as found in the Sling The Mesh Survey 2019.

Mesh was rushed to market using the flimsiest of evidence. New products continue to be approved using a flawed medical device approval system known as equivalence in Europe and the 510K system in the US. Long-term complications are not captured globally.

This article by Jonathan Gornall describes how mesh became a four-letter word.

Key objectives

  • Raising awareness of mesh implant risk.
  • Calling for tougher regulations and oversight of medical devices to improve patient safety.
  • Campaigning for the implementation of all nine First Do No Harm key recommendations.
  • A Sunshine payment system for the UK forcing industry to declare all payments made to doctors, researchers and teaching hospitals as outlined in S92 of the Health & Social Care Act 2022.

Latest from Sling The Mesh

  • Mesh legal claims – leaflets from 2000 and 2003
    For anyone taking out a medical negligence case about pelvic mesh then the following may prove useful for your law firm. Especially for women who had their incontinence mesh sling implanted prior to 2013 when some law firms believe there was no evidence on risks.
  • Sling The Mesh in the news: 2024
    News headlines, features and discussion about Sling The Mesh in 2024.
  • Thousands of women harmed by pelvic mesh deserve redress
    We welcome a report by the Patient Safety Commissioner which recommends financial redress for women who’ve had lives destroyed by pelvic mesh.
  • Pessaries for prolapse
    A study into pessaries for prolapse could change practice in the UK and beyond, according to one of the authors. The TOPSY study is the first trial of self-managing prolapse pessaries. And the results are encouraging. Wael Agur, one of the study authors, said: “To avoid surgery, a number of gynaecologists already routinely offer women who can self-manage the option […]
  • Men’s mesh slings have devastating complications
    Mesh slings made of the same polypropylene plastic as suspended women’s slings have been implanted into nearly 200 UK men suffering incontinence after prostate cancer. The operations were part of a trial in 28 hospitals – where half the slings failed to fix the men’s urinary leaks. Worse, just like the majority of women’s mesh implant trials, the full range […]
  • Groundhog day
    A new study from Amsterdam claims an absorbable mesh containing polyester is safe after testing on just 17 women for two years. The results focus on the fix and ignore / downplay the new onset of pain and life-altering complications. This is a common feature of mesh scientific papers. It is a common factor in many mesh studies that a […]
  • Not everyone gets £1million
    A mother left in debilitating pain and faecally incontinent from vaginal mesh has been awarded a record settlement of at least £1 million. While all medical negligence wins can be seen as a success for the mesh-injured community, this sum is extremely unusual, and considerably higher than what the majority of women receive in settlements. Having run Sling The Mesh […]
  • Toughen up transparency – our letter to government
    Sling The Mesh led a coalition urging the government to toughen up plans forcing industry to publicly declare the millions it gives to the health sector each year. A group of 13 politicians and health organisations signed our letter (see below) criticising the government’s poorly thought out proposals and calls for robust measures to ensure transparency. Pharmaceutical and medical device […]
  • Email Rally: who is funding our doctors voice?
    The mesh scandal must never happen again. Which is why we’re calling on anyone who cares about safe healthcare to get involved in our Sunshine Email Rally. Behind many health scandals lies a hidden world of profits before patient safety, where industry giants give millions to key opinion leaders to help promote their products. Examples include Drs getting paid by […]
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