Sling The Mesh in the news: 2024

Yahoo News MP Sharon Hodgson, whose mum has had her life changed forever because of mesh, joins the fight for financial redress for women. She 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.”

Your Harlow online Local MP Chris Vince supports financial redress for women. He 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.”

Yahoo News Patient advocates for women injured by pelvic mesh implants will meet with the patient safety minister to discuss financial redress options, The group – from Sling the Mesh which was launched in Cambridgeshire in 2015 – will meet with Baroness Gillian Merron. 

Peterborough Matters Campaigner Kath Sansom, a mum-of-two, says a meeting to discuss financial redress marks a significant step forward in recognising the profound harm suffered by thousands of women across the UK. She added the need for redress to address the physical, mental, and financial toll of their injuries is now urgent. 

Patient Safety Hub Politicians give their support for financial redress for women who have been injured by pelvic mesh and say it must be agreed as a matter of urgency.

Wisbech Standard 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. They meet today with the Patient Safety Minister to call for financial redress.

Hunts Post 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. Campaigners meet with Patient Safety Minister Baroness Gillian Merron.

Ely Standard Sling The Mesh advocates will meet with the patient safety minister to discuss financial redress options for women harmed by pelvic mesh. The need for redress to address the physical, mental, and financial toll of their injuries is now urgent, say campaigners.

Daily Echo Sir Julian lewis, MP for New Forest, calls for urgent compensation for women harmed by pelvic mesh.

Portsmouth News Nurse Dawn Martin was one of the first members of Sling The Mesh when it launched in 2015. In her latest book she outlines what it is like to be a mesh injured nurse fighting a system she works in.

Cambs Times A patient safety campaigner is hopeful that new government regulations will impact “the wild West” culture that she says previously existed around the use of medical devices.  The government now intends to introduce strengthened regulations that prioritise patient safety when it comes to the use of medical devices.  

Daily Mail The material used in vaginal mesh implants starts to degrade within 60 days of being implanted in the pelvis, according to a new study Researchers also found particles of polypropylene, a type of thermoplastic, in the tissue surrounding implant sites. Kath Sansom, of Sling The Mesh, called for ‘immediate action’ from the medical community and regulatory bodies based on the findings ‘to ensure that no more lives are shattered by this dangerous product’.

The Independent A study by scientists at the University of Sheffield found mesh fibres started to degrade within 60 days, becoming stiffer and showing signs of oxidation, a process which increased over time. Sheila MacNeil, emeritus professor of biomaterials and tissue engineering at the University of Sheffield, said: “This research provides objective physical evidence that this material does not cope well with implantation in the pelvis.”

BBC Kath Sansom, founder of the support group Sling The Mesh, which has almost 11,000 members around the world, said: “The mesh-injured community have endured debilitating complications, unaware that the plastic material implanted in their bodies is not fit for purpose and could degrade so quickly. This study confirms what many of us have suspected – that the mesh becomes unstable, causing harm that is irreversible.”

The National Scot The material commonly used in vaginal mesh implants starts to degrade within 60 days of being implanted in the pelvis, according to a new study. Researchers also found particles of polypropylene, a type of thermoplastic, in the tissue surrounding implant sites. Campaigners called for “immediate action” from the medical community and regulatory bodies based on the findings “to ensure that no more lives are shattered by this dangerous product”.

London Evening Standard A study by scientists at the University of Sheffield ound fibres started to degrade within 60 days, becoming stiffer and showing signs of oxidation, a process which increased over time. Researchers also discovered polypropylene particles in the tissue around the implantation site. The concentration of these particles was 10 times higher after 180 days than at 60 days, according to the study.

University of Sheffield A study, published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, suggests that polypropylene mesh – that was widely used to treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse often experienced by women after childbirth – can begin to degrade within 60 days of being implanted.

Cambs Times A new study is more damning evidence that dangerous mesh implants should not be used, says campaigner Kath Sansom.

The story is also covered in the Ipswich Star, the Gloucester Standard, Darlington and Stockton Times, Your Local Guardian, Jersey Evening Post, The Leader, Oxford Mail, Dorset Echo, Surrey Comet, Slough Observer, North West Mail, Whitehaven News, York Press, Irish News, The Times series

Cambs Times A Cambridgeshire mum has won £20,000 to continue her campaigning work. Kath Sansom, from the town of March, has been named a winner of the 2024 Tenacious Campaigner Awards, which supports campaigners working to right an injustice. She launched the Sling the Mesh campaign almost a decade ago.  

Cambsnews A March mum who has spent almost a decade raising awareness on the life-changing harm of surgical mesh has been named a winner of the 2024 Tenacious Campaigner Awards. Each winner will receive a grant of £20,000 to further advance their campaigns. Kath Sansom runs Sling The Mesh, which began in 2015 with 20 members on her Facebook support group, and now has almost 11,000 from around the world.

Fenland Citizen March mum wins 2024 Tenacious Awards for almost a decade of campaigning on the harms of plastic surgical mesh implants. Kath Sansom said: “Receiving the Tenacious Campaigner Award is an incredible honour. This recognition not only highlights the importance of our fight but also fuels my determination to push for lasting change in the arena of patient safety.”

The Guardian 140 women receive compensation from makers of mesh in what is the first Product Liability group action success in England

BBC More than 100 women who experienced pain and complications from transvaginal mesh implants have received payouts from three manufacturers of the products. The financial settlement offered by companies Bard, Boston Scientific, and Johnson & Johnson has not been disclosed.

The Independent Women say the implants caused infection, bleeding, chronic pain, bladder and bowel perforations, and problems urinating. Now, 140 women who experienced distressing side effects after getting vaginal mesh implants have won payouts expected to stretch into millions of pounds in England.

Daily Mail More than 100 women who suffered complications from vaginal mesh implants are the first in England to get payouts as part of a group claim – 140 women reached an undisclosed settlement with manufacturers Johnson & Johnson, Bard and Boston Scientific. Payouts are expected to total millions of pounds and follow a long-running campaign by the Mail.

Cambs Times A patient safety campaigner says it is “a groundbreaking success” that women suffering complications from vaginal mesh implants will receive a payout – 140 women in England harmed by the medical device have been successful in a group settlement. Kath Sansom, from March, in Cambridgeshire, has been campaigning tirelessly for nine-and-a-half years to raise awareness of the issue. She said: “This is groundbreaking success where a law firm has had the courage and temerity to take on industry giants – and win.”   

Professor Carl Heneghan’s Substack blog It has been 16 years since the FDA issued a Public Health Notification about the serious complications of Transvaginal Surgical Mesh. In the intervening years, tens of thousands of women have received unnecessary, harmful interventions.  In trying to fix the ‘broken NHS,’ the first lesson is to listen and respond to signals of harm.  

BBC Breakfast Live covers the story of 140 women receiving Product Liability pay out . Watch the interview with patient campaigner Kath Sansom, of Sling The Mesh.

Morning Star Thousands more women deserve compensation. Sling the Mesh founder Kath Sansom welcomed the news that more than 100 women in England were given payouts for a group settlement. But she said this was only a “tiny fraction” of women who deserve compensation. Sling the Mesh founder Kath Sansom welcomed the news that more than 100 women in England were given payouts for a group settlement.

Manchester Evening News 140 women receive compensation from mesh makers. The payouts mark the first successful group claim in England following injuries to women caused by mesh implants, which are used to treat incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. But many women missed out on the payouts because of a deadline on claiming, say lawyers. It comes as they tell ‘devastating stories’ of the horrors that the medical device has wrought on their lives – a device which they trusted what doctors told them would be the solution their already life-changing conditions.

Evening Standard More than 100 women who suffered  as a result of transvaginal mesh implants have received payouts from three manufacturers of the products expected to be in the “millions”. The financial settlement offered by companies Bard, Boston Scientific, and Johnson & Johnson has not been publicly disclosed but it is believed that the three companies have had to shell out mega money in what is the first successful group claim in England.

Hunts Post A patient safety campaigner says it is “a groundbreaking success” that women suffering complications from vaginal mesh implants will receive a payout. Kath Sansom, from March, in Cambridgeshire, has been campaigning tirelessly for nine-and-a-half years to raise awareness of the issue.  

The UK boasts an ambition of being a life sciences superpower, yet with great power comes great responsibility. Advocates like Sling The Mesh fear that the health sector has become a free-for-all with a focus on profits before patient safety. Which is why we’re urging the new Government to put transparency at the heart of its plans on healthcare and bring in a Sunshine Payment Act for the UK toi put transparency at the heart of healthcare HealthSense Summer 2024 Magazine

Sling The Mesh marks its ninth anniversary. What began as an ember of anger at what had happened to me has now become a global support movement with more than 10,400 members. The group began as a campaign for women affected by transvaginal mesh, but we quickly realised there was a need to advocate for people harmed by all types of surgical mesh, including rectopexy mesh, hernia mesh, mastectomy repair mesh and for men with mesh slings. Patient Safety Learning

After the pelvic mesh scandal women now face a new risk from surgical mesh used in breast reconstruction. Campaigners are demanding an urgent probe into the safety of surgical mesh used in thousands of NHS breast cancer operations each year. They fear the material, used in breast reconstruction, is leaving women with life-changing injuries, chronic pain and relying on a daily diet of painkillers to cope. Daily Mail or read our blog post.

A Cambridgeshire patient safety campaigner is marking the ninth anniversary of advocating for patients harmed by surgical mesh implants.  Kath Sansom, from March, set up the Sling the Mesh campaign in June 2015, two months after she experienced painful complications from pelvic mesh surgery.  The campaign began with 20 women offering support to each other and now has more than 10,500 members from around the world. Cambs Times

England’s Patient Safety Commissioner warns that calls for changes are ‘falling on deaf ears during a meeting of the First Do No Harm parliamentary meeting. Sky News

Mum speaks of how a surgical mesh implant turned her life upside down by leaving her in constant pain and unable to be intimate with her husband Wales Online

Daily Telegraph columnist Rachel Johnson, sister of former MP Boris Johnson, is criticised for promoting mesh sling surgery which has been suspended in the UK for six years (since 2018). Cambs Times

Patient Safety Commissioner Dr Henrietta Hughes publishes her report into Financial Redress for women harmed by mesh and Sodium Valproate. The Hughes Report

Nikki endured 17 years of agonising pain and had her marriage and career destroyed by the mesh scandal: As victims are finally set to win compensation after Mail campaign, they tell their harrowing stories Daily Mail

Thousands of women butchered by mesh and families of children left disabled by epilepsy drugs should be given pay-outs in the region of £25,000 each, ministers were told today. In a landmark compensation scheme which could be worth £600m, patient safety watchdogs ruled there is a ‘clear case for redress’ for victims of both scandals. Daily Mail

Ministers previously rejected calls for a financial scheme to aid those affected by the medical products. But a report on Wednesday says that position is “unsustainable” and is “causing immense anxiety for harmed patients”. Sky News

Victims of mesh and Sodium Valproate should get compensation. Calculations for the cost of the package amount to half a billion pounds – just for the initial payments, according to a report by the Patient Safety Commissioner for England, Dr Henrietta Hughes. Sky News

Women injured by pelvic mesh implants should be given urgent financial help, England’s patient safety commissioner Henrietta Hughes has said. BBC

Thousands of women and children affected by two separate medical scandals – one involving the epilepsy medication sodium valproate, and another involving vaginal mesh used to treat prolapses – have a “clear case” for compensation, a new report has said. ITV

People who have been harmed by pelvic mesh should receive an interim award of £25 000, followed by a main payout according to their individual needs, the patient safety commissioner for England has said. BMJ

Kath Sansom, founder of the Sling The Mesh campaign group, said: “While we are pleased the Hughes Report validates the suffering of thousands of women many who have lost jobs, pensions, homes, partners, and live in constant pain, there are also concerning elements to it. Most notably, the initial sum of £25,000 for mesh is disappointingly low. We hope second stage payments for women directly harmed will compensate for that. East London and West Essex Guardian

The Hughes report calls for a fair financial redress scheme that is non adversarial as the current medical negligence system creates a Lottery and is unfair. Law Society Gazette

A woman who described the time in her life after a pelvic mesh implant as “soul destroying” said proposed government compensation was “disappointingly low”. BBC

Ministers have faced backlash after families affected by Primodos were excluded from an important review about redress for victims of health scandals. A new report by the Patient Safety Commissioner says there is a “clear case for redress” for women and children affected by sodium valproate and vaginal mesh implants. but was told by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Primodos families would not be included. Cambs Times

The Hughes Report: the hidden trade-offs in no-fault compensation schemes AVMA the UK’s leading patient safety and access to justice charity

An in-depth look at The Hughes Report Patient Safety Learning