Breakthrough for mesh victims but NHS must act fast

The news when it came arrived without warning and in the most low-key of ways.

An emailed statement from Health Secretary Jeane Freeman was issued at 6.18pm on Wednesday.

It’s title, Improving Services for Mesh Complications, gave little indication of the huge news it contained.

But seven paragraphs in, the minister delivered an announcement that every Scottish mesh victim had longed for and fought for.

She wrote: “I have asked that we seek to bring Dr (Dionysios) Veronikis to Scotland for a period of time to provide treatment, expert advice and training.”

This step is the breakthrough that those women, their MPS and

The Sunday Post had spent years demanding from the NHS.

For some reason, our calls initially fell on deaf ears, then became hampered by bureaucracy.

There seemed little hope that Dr Veronikis, the US surgeon who specialises in mesh removal, would ever reach these shores.

In the meantime, victims were either forced to pay to be treated by him abroad or had to carry on suffering in Scotland.

We, therefore, welcome the move by the Health Secretary although many, many questions still remain unanswered as to why it has taken so long for mesh victims to get the care they deserve. Meanwhile, the NHS must move quickly to ensure that Dr Veronikis is brought to this country as soon as possible to treat women such as Claire Daisley who faces losing her bowel and bladder due to complications caused by medical mesh.

Red tape, conflicting interests, and even egos, must all be kept in check. The interests of those women who continue to suffer indescribable agonies are the only interests that now count in what has been an appalling scandal.