Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take further steps to support women who were affected by Poly Implant Prothèse breast implants prior to 2012.

The Government remains committed to protecting patient safety and women’s health.

Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) breast implants have not been re-introduced to the United Kingdom market since their withdrawal in 2010.

The 47,000 women who were given PIP implants, mainly in private clinics, can come forward and have those implants removed on the National Health Service if their doctors agree. Information and advice for women who think they might have PIP implants is available on NHS webpages.

Since PIP breast implants were withdrawn in 2010, the health system has enacted important changes to protect against future events. The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry collects and publishes data on all types of breast implant and removal surgery in the UK since 2016.

The future regulations for medical devices will enhance the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) proactive patient safety monitoring of devices, enabling earlier identification of safety issues. The future regulations will also look to enhance pre-market requirements, ensuring medical devices receive increased risk-proportionate scrutiny before they reach the market.

In addition, the MHRA will improve the traceability of devices through the introduction of Unique Device Identifier requirements. The MHRA gained powers from the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 to improve transparency with respect to safety issues with devices, such as breast implants.