NHS bosses and the watchdog that oversees medical devices tried to limit public exposure of the scandal over vaginal mesh implants that have harmed hundreds of women.
Minutes of a meeting held in October 2016 show that NHS England and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency agreed to “avoid media attention” over the implants, despite the fact they were seeking to encourage patients to report any complications.
The document, obtained by the Press Association, records an agreement to “take the press element out” of the “yellow card” campaign to record adverse reactions experienced by vaginal mesh patients, suggesting that it could be folded into a wider effort, “of which mesh is one element, to avoid media attention on mesh”.
The apparent cooperation between NHS England and the MHRA to minimise media focus on the debilitating problems increasingly associated with the implants appears to breach the NHS’s duty – reiterated regularly by health secretary Jeremy Hunt – to be open and transparent over patient safety failings.
NHS England and the Department of Health both refused to comment on the minutes of the meeting.
One possible reason for the NHS to want to limit exposure of the issuecould be to reduce the number of potential lawsuits faced by the health service.
More than 800 women are suing the NHS and the manufacturers of vaginal mesh implants after suffering serious complications, it emerged this week. Some women reported that implants had cut into their vaginas, with one woman saying she was left in so much pain that she considered suicide. Others have been left unable to walk or have sex, according to the BBC.
Vaginal mesh implants are used to treat incontinence after childbirth or pelvic organ prolapse, where the womb or bladder bulge against the walls of the vagina. Between 2006 and 2016, more than 11,000 women in England were given the implants to treat prolapse or incontinence, NHS data shows.
Around 11%-12% of users have reported problems, while lawsuits in the US have already seen around $ 2bn (£1.5bn) paid to affected women.
Campaigners say that hundreds more women have come forward after learning of the group planning to sue.
Kath Sansom, who runs the campaigning website and Facebook group Sling the Mesh, says the number of women contacting her has risen from a few people a day to more than 200 in the past 24 hours.
“It’s always the same story,” she said. “There are so many women who were told it was just them, that they were a one-off. They can’t believe there are others out there. So many people are told it’s back pain, endometriosis, gall bladder pain, scar tissue. And so many of them accept it, you trust medical professionals.”
Data from the MHRA, which has been looking at the issue since 2011 following complaints from women, shows more than 1,000 adverse incidents have been reported in the past five years.
Despite the problems that have emerged the MHRA insists that the best current evidence supports the continued use of the implants to resolve health conditions that could themselves cause serious distress to patients.
A report into the issue from a working party led by NHS England admits there is a huge lack of data on complications from the devices. Published studies on mesh implants do “not tell the whole story” and there are gaps in NHS knowledge about their safety, it added.
NHS and medical watchdog tried to suppress scandal over vaginal mesh implants
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