New analysis shows that the cost of follow-ups for women who have undergone mesh surgery in England is estimated to be £119,164,200.
Mesh
The figure comes from Carl Heneghan, professor of Evidence Based Medicine at the University of Oxford and clinical advisor to the APPG on Surgical Mesh, after the NHS published an audit into the number of women affected by the mesh scandal.
A total of 993,035 women have attended outpatient appointments as a follow up after undergoing mesh surgery. Professor Heneghan states that the trend in outpatient appointments is the reverse of that which would be normal after successful surgery.
Professor Heneghan said: “These are the sorts of outpatient treatment numbers one would expect to see among a cohort of patients with multiple co-morbidities, not that you’d see among the relatively young and relatively cohort of women who have usually been operated on with surgical mesh for urinary incontinence.”
A parliamentary debate on surgical mesh is being held today (19 April), led by Emma Hardy, MP and vice chairman of the APPG on Surgical Mesh
“Despite some recent successes in the mesh campaign, there is still more work to be done both to help the victims of the current scandal and to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. I believe the government now needs to fully suspend mesh operations and to bring forward the NICE guidance which is still not expected until 2019!"
I also believe the government should urgently review the financial consequences of dealing with failed mesh procedures and should consider introducing post-natal pelvic floor physiotherapy for all new mothers on the NHS. That is standard in France, and in light of the shocking new analysis which reveals the cost of botched mesh ops, our government should bring forward a similar programme to both support the health and wellbeing of new mothers and to save NHS money in the longer term.” Hardy said.