Hundreds of women each year need vaginal mesh implants removed, NHS audit finds

Campaigners say the official review uses ‘selective’ data and does not reflect the full extent of harm from the implants

The chief medical officer for England will report back to the government with findings ‘within a month’ (Duke Health)

Hundreds of women annually are having procedures to remove vaginal mesh implants intended to be permanent but which are linked to serious complications.

An NHS audit was launched earlier this year to understand how many women may be affected by the devices in cases where they deformed after being implanted – in some cases cutting the vagina walls and causing life-threatening infections.

The findings show that since April 2008 surgeons performed at least 500 removal operations each year for vaginal mesh and tape implants, with 5,374 full or partial removals having taken place up to March 2017.

The majority of these removals were for mesh tape implants, used to treat urinary incontinence, which have been thought of as less prone to complications.

The rigid mesh, used to support the vagina walls and prevent internal organ prolapse after giving birth, has caused the most concern.

Campaigners are calling for its use to be suspended for prolapse, and manufacturers are facing legal action in the UK and overseas.

But the data shows just 211 women had these implants removed since 2008, out of more than 27,000 women who had a mesh implant for prolapse.

Since 2008 there have been 2,639 removals among the 100,516 women who had a tape implant for stress incontinence.

Campaigners said the statistics have been deliberately presented to minimise the apparent harm of these procedures.

Commenting on the report, Kath Sansom, founder of the Sling The Mesh campaign group, said: “The government has selectively used figures in a bid to make mesh risk look low, and have presented it in such a confusing way that to a unexperienced reader they will think mesh is not a problem.

“It has not included private patients or women going to GPs for pain medication or antibiotics to treat painful urinary infections, so there are thousands not included in this data.

“This audit has no information on the devastating social and psychological impact on women – we ran a survey that shows one-in-three women in our group of 6,000 have had to stop work, and one in five reduced their hours due to disability or pain.

“We demand a national recall urgently before hundreds more women are maimed by mesh.”

NHS Digital was tasked with collating figures on mesh and tape to help the National Health Service create a “clearer” picture of patients who have had such procedures.

The report comes after several patients reported complications having been fitted with the medical products.

In February, Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt launched a review into how the NHS responds to safety concerns raised by patients about medicines or medical devices.

In particular it will look into patient concerns about vaginal mesh, along with hormone pregnancy test Primodos and epilepsy drug sodium valproate.

The report will also consider whether a full investigation or a public inquiry into any of the issues is necessary.

Sharon Hodgson MP, Labour’s shadow minister for public health, said: “Today’s audit on the use of surgical mesh in the NHS is a first step in understanding the sheer scale of the number of women affected by this scandal, but the government needs to be much clearer about the ongoing risks posed by these products.

“What’s more, the government has failed to suspend the use of surgical mesh whilst the audit took place, and since the audit does not cover the last 12 months we are still none the wiser about how many patients have been treated since March 2017.”

Health minister Lord O’Shaughnessy said: “These experimental statistics aim to provide the NHS with a clearer national picture on the use of meshes and tapes to treat urogynaecological prolapse or stress urinary incontinence.

“Given the importance of this issue I have asked the chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, to seek the views of relevant NHS bodies, surgical societies and patient groups on the implications of the statistics, and report back to me within a month.”

Additional reporting by Press Association