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 a drug or medical device company to trial their product, Drs paid to attend training on 5 star trips abroad, industry sponsoring surgeon society meetings, donating money to health charities or funding All Party Parliamentary Group meetings.

This money mostly goes unchecked.

We demand it is declared and logged by law, on one central government-held register. It must be free and easy to access for members of the public.

Politicians have to declare money given, also known as their conflicts of interest. The same should happen in the health sector.

Email Rally details: Deadline 16 October 2023

The government is running a consultation about whether to introduce a Sunshine style Act to force industry to log payments given to the health sector. More information can be found here.

Please find below suggested wording to send for our Email Rally. Do not send personal information.

Email: industry-reporting-consultation@dhsc.gov.uk

Subject: Industry funding consultation

Get involved: Email Rally wording

Dear team,

Please accept this email as my taking part in the Government consultation. I found the consultation survey very confusing, and I was unable to give my views that way. It seemed like the survey link was aimed at industry and not regular members of the public or patients like me who have been harmed.

Millions is given by the makers of drugs and medical devices to Doctors, Royal Colleges, teaching hospitals, researchers, health charities, parliamentary groups and patient groups – but this money mostly exchanges hands secretly.

We want this money to be openly declared on one central, government-held, registry that’s free and easy for the public to search.

The only way to ensure this is successful is to enact a law – like the Sunshine Act in America – so that industry must log all money given to the health sector. This must be logged and made public on a central government-held register that is updated at least once a year.

Transparency is vital to find out who is funding the voices of key opinion leaders. Only then can we assess the effect of these payments.

It has been shown that such payments can lead to the benefits of a treatment being overstated and the risks downplayed:

• Scottish Surgeon Mohammed Abdel Fattah failed to declare £100,000 from the makers of a mesh sling he was trialling. This mesh was suspended by Baroness Cumberlege in 2018 owing to unacceptable risks. This mesh type (TVTO) has caused some of the worst disabling injuries and pain to women yet Fattah’s research claimed it did not cause thigh pain. 
• Robotic Surgery: out of 458 studies with 2,253 authors, half had one or more author who had taken industry money but not disclosed the payments. Can we really trust the evidence?

We demand a Sunshine style payment act so, by law, industry must declare all payments given to the health sector in relation to drugs and medical devices.

Patient safety must be at the heart of innovation.