Chris Vince

I thank my hon. Friend for the question. I broadly agree with her. Over the last year we have seen some terrible scandals, the Post Office scandal and the infected blood scandal. When we have debates on those in this House, we recognise that things should have been done much more quickly and that we should have been much more open to providing financial support to the people affected. We should look at this case in those terms. To continue the recommendations, the report states: “Patients who received relevant treatment through either the NHS or independent sector should be eligible for the Interim Scheme and Main Scheme…” and adds that patients should find the application process for both schemes “straightforward”. Again, that speaks about accessibility and making the process non-adversarial, which is really important. It comes across in both reports that victims of the pelvic mesh scandal were made to feel guilty and that it was their fault, which is absolutely not the case. The report states that both schemes “should be administered by an independent body which commands the confidence of patients.” We want those patients to feel confidence in the scheme. Both schemes “should effectively signpost harmed patients to services which can provide them with free emotional support.” I reiterate the importance of that emotional support. Finally, the report states: “The government must ensure that the launch of the Interim Scheme and the Main Scheme is accompanied”— this goes back to the point made by the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis)— “by an awareness raising campaign to ensure that all potentially eligible patients are made aware of it.” As I mentioned earlier, 617 people directly harmed by the pelvic mesh implants contributed to the Cumberlege report, and 471 people directly harmed by the pelvic mesh implants provided evidence to the Hughes report. That shows the huge number of women affected by the scandal. I am delighted to see how many Members from across the House have been contacted, as I was by Debbie, by constituents who have been impacted by this. In August this year more than 100 women who experienced pain and complications from transvaginal mesh implants received payouts from three manufacturers of the product, but there was no admission of liability. I thank the Minister for his time and for giving consideration to the recommendations. I truly thank everybody from across the House for contributing to this debate and I look forward to hearing from them. I finish with a quote from the Hughes report, from a patient harmed by pelvic mesh: “It always comes back to we innocently trusted that we were having something that was going to fix our embarrassing health condition and then from that we have had our lives shattered. This is not our fault.”