Campaigners welcome mesh surgery review for women
The Labour leader of Haringey Council is to stand down after complaining of sexism and bullying behaviour during a bitter party row over redevelopment.
Claire Kober will not seek re-election in the north London borough in May following a long-running controversy over a proposed £2bn housing project in the borough.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has opposed the project. CAMPAIGNERS HAVE welcomed a Government decision to carry out a study which should provide “crucial” answers about how many women have been affected by controversial mesh surgery.
A retrospective audit into vaginal mesh surgery has been a key demand of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Surgical Mesh Implants.
NHS England estimates more than 100,000 women have been operated on using mesh and that complications affect between three and five per cent of cases.
The procedures involve inserting a plastic mesh into the vagina to support the bladder, womb or bowel in cases of urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. However, some recent studies suggest serious complications occur for one in ten women.
Kath Sansom, founder of Sling the Mesh, said: “After two decades of mesh use with poor audit, the Government is finally hearing the voices of women whose lives have changed beyond repair.
“A survey of 570 women in Sling The Mesh shows a third have suffered mesh slice into their vagina or organs and eight out of ten have pain walking or sitting.
“Six out of ten have lost partners because of the strain while seven out of ten have lost sex lives. A third have had to give up work because of pain. Not surprisingly six out of ten suffer depression and anxiety.”
More than 800 women are taking legal action in the UK against the NHS and manufacturers. Last December New Zealand became the first major country to effectively ban the implants over safety concerns.
Australia also banned mesh for pelvic organ prolapse last year for being too risky. The Department of Health and Social Care audit should provide the most accurate data possible about how many women in England have had mesh implanted, and how many have experienced complications.
West Hull and Hessle MP Emma Hardy, vice chair of the APPG, said the “trajectory of travel is definitely moving away” from vaginal mesh surgery. She added: “There are lots of questions that remain unanswered. Why has no one listened or taken it seriously before? The main focus now has to be on gathering evidence and bringing forward NICE guidelines and hopefully suspending its use.”
The Department of Health said it was “consulting with stakeholders” on the issue. THE DEPUTY leader of North Yorkshire County Council says he is proposing a 4.99 per cent council tax rise “very reluctantly”.
The authority’s executive recommended a package of savings as part of the £142m of cuts made since the start of the decade.
The recommendation, which will be considered by full council on February 21, includes an increase in general council tax next year of 2.99 per cent along with a two per cent social care precept, making a total of 4.99 per cent.
Gareth Dadd, North Yorkshire’s deputy leader, said: “I propose this council tax rise very reluctantly. We must do what we can to protect services for the vulnerable, the elderly and the young.”
Separately, Bradford Council has reduced its £10.5m overspend to £600,000 for the coming financial year, despite overspends in health and wellbeing and children’s services.