Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by (a) Baroness Cumberlege entitled Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, published 8 July 2020 and (b) Dr Henrietta Hughes entitled Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024; and whether he plans to establish a taskforce to improve patient advocacy services for those affected by vaginal mesh implants.

The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review’s overarching conclusion was that the system failed to listen to patients or put patients at the centre of their care. Subsequent work has focussed on improving how the system listens to and responds to concerns raised by patients, strengthening the evidence base on which decisions are made, including through making sure the right data is collected and used, and improving the safety of medicines and devices.

The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which builds on some of the issues identified by Baroness Cumberlege in the IMMDS Review. The Hughes Report sets out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, including a proposal on advocacy services. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.