Vaginal Mesh Implants: Compensation

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

My Lords, this has been an excellent debate. I thank my noble friends Lady Sugg, Lady Berridge and Lady Wyld, the noble Baronesses, Lady Bennett and Lady Brinton, and my noble friend Lord Mancroft, who all made very powerful points in their speeches. I congratulate my noble friend Lady Cumberlege on securing this important debate. I pay tribute to her work on this issue over many years and her leadership on the First Do No Harm report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, as well as to her team of Sir Cyril Chantler, Simon Whale and Dr Valerie Brasse, and the patient groups.

Simply put, victims have suffered as a result of two medications and one medical device. The medications are: hormone pregnancy tests such as Primodos, which were later withdrawn due to concerns over birth defects and miscarriages; and sodium valproate, the anti-epileptic drug which was later found to cause physical malformations, autism and developmental delay in children after being taken by pregnant mothers. The medical device is the pelvic mesh implants which were used to repair pelvic organ prolapse and address urinary incontinence. Their use has been linked to crippling, life-changing complications.

My noble friend Lord Kamall tells me that when he was a Minister in the department he was horrified that progress for helping the poor women who had suffered from these two medications and one medical device was far too slow. Fortunately, the then Minister, Maria Caulfield, asked the Patient Safety Commissioner to explain what the Government should do to meet the needs of individual patients who had suffered these avoidable harms.

In government, we completed four of the initial recommendations in the report of my noble friend Lady Cumberlege, and another three were in progress in March 2024. The most important of these is the setting up of nine specialist centres which can provide the support needed in terms not just of redress surgically or treatment-wise but of the support that people need to help them cope with the issues. We expect the Government to deliver financial compensation for those affected by these treatments as soon as possible.

My noble friend Lady Cumberlege has said that after “first do no harm” should come

“and now do some good”.

As other noble Lords have referenced, the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report, published earlier this year, states that

“there is a clear case for redress based on the systemic healthcare and regulatory failures”

for women and children affected by the issues in England.

There is agreement across this House that Governments of all political colours have been too slow in delivering justice and financial compensation to victims of scandals in the past. We need mention only the Post Office Horizon scandal to remind ourselves of the importance of delivering justice to those who have been wronged. When these problems come to light, it is essential that we help the victims of these scandals as quickly as possible. Too many people suffered over the Horizon scandal and too many people and families suffered due to delays in helping victims of the infected blood scandal. Likewise, too many women, children and families have suffered as a result of women being prescribed Primodos, sodium valproate and pelvic mesh implants. The Government must act urgently to help those women who have suffered, so will the Minister give an undertaking today to make this a priority?

On 23 July, my noble friend Lord Kamall submitted a Written Question to the Minister asking when the Government intend to respond to the Hughes report and when they anticipate making the first payments under the recommended redress scheme. I thank the Minister for replying within three days, saying:

“The Government is considering the recommendations of The Hughes Report, and to prevent future harm, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, and others have taken action to strengthen oversight of valproate prescribing and mesh procedures”.


My noble friend Lord Kamall followed up on 29 July to ask the Government

“by which date they expect to issue a response to the Hughes Report, and whether they plan to offer compensation as the report recommends”.

Again, the Minister responded promptly with the Answer:

“The government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Hughes Report and will respond in due course”.


We recognise that the Government are relatively new and need time to get up to speed, but can the Minister be more specific at this stage in answering the timescale question?

My noble friend Lord Kamall tells me that when he was a Minister there were two phrases in briefings that he was not fond of. One was “at pace” and the other was “in due course”. Can the Minister give noble Lords an approximate timescale for a decision—for example, by the end of 2024, mid-2025 or indeed the end of 2025? If not, can she enlighten noble Lords on when she will be able to give an estimate of the date by which she will know the date of the Government’s response? It is vital that they give some certainty to noble Lords—and, more importantly, to the many women and children who have suffered for far too long physically, mentally and economically. I know that the noble Baroness is a formidable operator as a Minister and, to speak personally, she has our full support on this side of the House.