Campaigners affected by the medical scandals of pelvic mesh implants, Primodos, and sodium valproate gathered outside Parliament to mark Patient Safety month with a powerful protest demanding justice and reform.

Joined by cross-party MPs from the First Do No Harm All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), the demonstrators called on the Government to fully implement all recommendations of the landmark Cumberlege Review.

The protest today (Weds 10 September) was led by representatives impacted by the three medical interventions investigated in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, chaired by Baroness Julia Cumberlege.

The review, published in 2020, exposed systemic failures in patient safety and called for sweeping reform – including of the regulator the MHRA, an independent redress agency, specialist centres for treatment, financial redress and Sunshine legislation to improve transparency of payments from industry to the health sector.

Sharon Hodgson MP, Chair of the First Do No Harm APPG, who has been a vocal advocate for justice for women – including her mam who has been harmed by pelvic mesh, said after the event: “We are now five years on from the Cumberlege Review and over 18 months since the Hughes Report on redress – yet thousands of women and children are still waiting to be heard, acknowledged, and properly cared for. This is not just a delay; it is a systemic failure. Their pain, their stories, and their voices must not be ignored. Women and children deserve to be seen, believed, and supported. Campaigners are right to stand firm because until the Cumberlege recommendations are implemented and justice is truly delivered, the fight must go on.”

Among the demonstrators were members of Sling the Mesh, the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests (Primodos) and INFACT (valproate). All demanded accountability and urgent action.

The protest included booklets for people to read highlighting personal testimonies of harrowing stories of harm, lack of informed consent, and being dismissed by medical professionals

Stories of harm from three women’s health medical scandals in the First Do No Harm review

PELVIC MESH

·        I can’t shake the depression as I wake in pain, every morning knowing mesh has ruined my life. I had two meshes, both removed. I struggle to walk. Some days my legs shake.

·        The mesh centre rang me early 2023 and I heard nothing more until a “follow up” appointment came by post in September 2025. Wait times at the specialist mesh centres are terrible.

·        My trust for the medical profession is gone after being gaslit and made to feel stupid for years. I was told the pain was in my head.

·        My doctor completed the form and I’ve been given access to my pension at the age of 44. Now officially retired through ill health.

·        I’ve had constant urinary tract infections since mesh. I’m resistant to most antibiotics now. It’s scary. What happens when I can no longer use any?

·        I had rectopexy bowel mesh removed after getting gangrene of the bowel where it became strangulated by the mesh – I now have a stoma bag and very large hernia.

·        My doctor told me the mesh was perfectly placed, and I was making a fuss. I cashed in my savings and paid private for mesh removal. The surgeon said the mesh had turned brittle and was cutting into my urethra.

·        I’ve lost my career, hobbies, the chance to be a granny – I can’t babysit, I can’t lift the little ones. I’m only 48.

·        I’ve had my life ripped from under my feet. I sit here crying in pain, thinking there isn’t any point in carrying on.

·        I was a nurse but lost my job as unable to do my role. Age 36.

·        When I had the 6-week check-up in agony begging for my mesh sling to be removed the surgeon said I’ll get used to the pain.

·        Lucinda took her life by suicide from agonising pain of a rectopexy mesh inserted by a surgeon who also removed her ovaries as ‘they were in the way’. That surgeon has since been struck off by the GMC and his rectopexy mesh research is under investigation.

·        Mesh sliced through my vaginal walls, and I was given oestrogen cream to ‘thicken up the skin’! The harsh plastic cut through my vagina again 3 times and cuts my husband during intercourse.

·        Pain in my legs, groin, vagina. Intercourse is painful. When I told my surgeon, he said women in their 50s shouldn’t be having sex.

·        I was sacked from my well-paid job after 23 yrs due to the amount of time off sick. I now live on Universal Credit – £600pcm.

·        Mentally broken – can’t work and having to get a PAD dog for emotional support and train it to intervene when I self-harm.

PRIMODOS

·        I was told my baby was stillborn and she was taken away. Hours later, when my husband came to visit, he asked where she was. I told him she died. He went outside for a nurse and saw a trolley in the corridor with a blanket over it. Our baby girl was lying there, still alive. She lived for another 36 hours before dying. I was told later she would have been put in the sluice if my husband hadn’t found her. We visit her grave on milestones she would have reached and at every Easter and Christmas.

·        My baby was so badly affected internally that she had to have fluid withdrawn from her stomach with a huge needle every few weeks. Just after her 1^st birthday she had to be dragged from my arms, as she was screaming No Mummy. That was the last time I saw her as she died that day. I didn’t have any more children and my husband, and I divorced.

·        When my baby was born, his injuries were so severe that he only lived for a day.  Written on his death certificate was *Monster Child* My husband left me, and his family disowned me. They said I must have taken something to get rid of him. I lost everything.

·        We’re now in our 70’s, still looking after our profoundly disabled daughter who can’t speak or understand how to communicate.  She’s in constant pain but can’t explain where. Several times a month we have to take her to hospital at night when she is screaming and we’re unable to help. We’re so tired. I do not want to be here anymore. We have no life. I can’t carry on.

·        My beautiful daughter Michelle was highly intelligent but could never live a normal life as her injuries were so severe.  She died in 2023 just before her 50th birthday. Michelle could never go on holiday or out with friends due to her condition. 25 years ago, she was struck by arthritis caused by her underlying condition which became so bad she needed a knee replacement. Due to her heart and lung disease, she was not allowed to have the operation. Michelle’s heart specialist told us she had never seen a heart in such a mess.  In 2023 Primodos finally took her life, our only child. 

·        Stephen was 61 when he died.  We were in our early 80’s and had cared for him from the day he was born. He was incontinent, wheelchair bound and mentally impaired. Stephen was very big and it was difficult to change and lift him. One of us had to stay with Stephen every night as he had frequent fits, so we always had to sleep separately. Stephen was loved by all his siblings and wider family. It broke our hearts when he died – 61 years of our life devoted to Stephen and we miss him every day.

·        My mother died last year, still fighting for justice and still worried about who would look after me.  She always carried the guilt that if she hadn’t taken Primodos I’d have been able to live a full life and not need the constant care necessary to survive.  We were together every day, and she never once made me feel a burden but showered me with love from the day I was born. She devoted her life to me, so could never work or pay into a pension fund.

·        I was born without hands, half a tongue and deformed feet.  I have never had a girlfriend and will never have children. My mother took Primodos and suffers guilt every day. I don’t blame my mother and wish she could let go of the guilt she carries even today. I make the best of what I have, but it is hard to carry on at times and I have bouts of depression which means I must take time off work. My life is difficult, but I carry on for my parents’ sake.

·        My head and body were deformed, and I only had one eye. The Doctor didn’t want my mother to see me as they thought I wouldn’t live. I was put in a drawer and left to die, but my mother insisted she wanted to see me and saved my life. My face is severely damaged, and my speech is difficult to understand, plus I have many internal injuries. I’ve always worked and have good friends, but I’ve never had a relationship and will never know the joy of a family of my own. I feel angry that if Primodos had been taken off the market in 1967 I’d have had a normal life with my own family and my mother would not be suffering guilt that this was her fault for taking tablets her GP gave her.

·        I’ve had 54 operations. I have congenital epilepsy and have to have electric shocks to my brain every few minutes. I have a metal plate on the right-hand side of my head. My last operation was 2023. I suffer from constant nausea and incredible pain. I am sick of my life and sit on my own crying. I want to be with my late Father, Nanna and Grandad.  Written in Feb. 2023.  She died shortly afterwards from a massive heart attack.  

VALPROATE

Mums

·        Valproate stole my child’s future and left me carrying the guilt of something I was never warned about.

·        I live with the heartbreak of watching my child struggle every single day because doctors failed to tell me the risks.

·        I have been dismissed, gaslit, and blamed by professionals when I begged for answers.

·        Our family has faced financial ruin because my child will never be independent enough to work.

·        Valproate robbed me of trust in the medical system, I’ll never feel safe in a doctor’s hands again.

·        I’ve had to fight schools, services, and even my own doctors to get recognition for my child’s disabilities.

From children / adults harmed by Valproate

·        My body is in constant pain, I can’t keep up with other people my age.

·        I feel isolated because my disabilities make it hard to make and keep friends.

·        I’ve been bullied my whole life for being different.

·        I struggle with overwhelming anxiety and depression, it controls everything I do.

·        I can’t live independently like others my age, Valproate took away that freedom.

·        Every job application feels like a wall I can’t climb because of my disabilities.

·        I watch my friends moving forward in life, but I’m stuck because of what happened before I was even born.

·        I feel angry that a decision made before I was born has shaped my whole life.

·        Valproate didn’t just harm me, it harmed my whole family.