A year on from the Hughes Report, which called for urgent financial redress for women and families harmed by Mesh, Primodos and Sodium Valproate, a Parliamentary debate heard heart breaking stories of women across the UK suffering avoidable harm.

The packed debate saw 17 MPs give evidence in front of a packed public gallery.

MP Sharon Hodgson, who tabled the debate, said the three women’s health scandals are what happens when medical misogyny is allowed to run riot.

MP Jess Brown-Fuller said she met one of her mesh injured constituents at her home because: “She is so profoundly injured and traumatised that she no longer leaves her property for any reason. With no access to social media or the outside world, my constituent had no idea that there were others like her, or that there is a national campaign for justice. She felt alone, embarrassed and broken by her circumstances, so I promised to stand by and with her, and with the thousands of others, up and down the country, who have been failed.”

MP David Williams said: “It is a national scandal that pelvic mesh has been used in thousands of operations, often without a thorough explanation of the side effects. It is also a national scandal that this matter is not at the forefront of public awareness and attention.”

MP Warinder Juss, a barrister who has represented mesh injured women in legal cases, said: “It is essential that we have a redress system that works quickly, so that these women can try to rebuild their lives and move on. The redress scheme must provide not only financial compensation but non-financial compensation.”

He continued: “The right hon. Member mentioned PIP. Lots of these women struggled to apply for PIP and other benefits after they had been injured. They had little or no access to mental health services, and they were exposed to an inaccessible and adversarial legal system that was complicated to navigate. There are often delays in legal claims, and we need to move away from that. We need a Government-backed compensation scheme that is similar to the infected blood compensation scheme that this Government are properly pursuing. Only with such a scheme will we have proper redress for these women and ensure that justice is given to those impacted by this tragedy.”

MP Tony Vaughan said: “One of my constituents, who I will call Louise, endured years of pain and suffering due to the complications from mesh implants. After facing delays caused by local hospitals, she had no choice but to pay for private healthcare that would remediate the issue in one operation. That would not have been available on the NHS. She would have had to go through three separate, painful and lengthy procedures. Her experience underscores the urgent need for investment in urogynaecology services, as well as the justice that everybody is rightly calling for.”

MP Jim Shannon called for timely compensation for women harmed by pelvic mesh but also for men and women injured by hernia mesh.

Read the full report here

Sling The Mesh founder Kath Sansom with Under Secretary for Health MP Ashley Dalton