Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Written Statement of 10 July 2018 on Update on the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, HCWS841, what estimate he has made of the number of potential exceptions there will be to the pause in the use of mesh for stress urinary incontinence; and how exceptions to the suspension will be determined.

The pause in the use of vaginally inserted mesh to treat prolapse and tape/sling used to treat stress urinary incontinence will be implemented through a high vigilance programme of restricted practice. This is not a blanket ban as for some patients this can be a last treatment option for a debilitating condition.

These operations will therefore be available for carefully selected patients based on a multidisciplinary team decision, where the patient understands the risks involved and has provided informed consent. It is therefore not possible at this stage to quantify the number of exceptions that will take place.

This is similar to the position in Scotland, where mesh used to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse has been temporarily suspended, but is allowed in certain tightly controlled circumstances.