A MUM from Herefordshire is calling on the government to provide a full response to the nine recommendations made into patient safety as part of an independent inquiry last year.

Mum of two, Claire Griffiths, was forced to retire last year as an assistant nurse practitioner at just 38-years-old.

She was told mesh was the only way to treat her prolapse but after waking from the surgery, experienced excruciating pain that has never gone away.

Mrs Griffiths has to self-catheterise up to eight times a day and has a permanent stoma.

She walks with crutches, but for any distance further than about 20 yards, she needs a wheelchair.

She is now urging the government to provide a full update on how it is responding to the First Do No Harm report, which was published almost a year ago in July 2020.

The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review team, led by Baroness Julia Cumberlege, published the report which examined how the healthcare system responded to three medical interventions, including surgical mesh.

It made nine recommendations to improve patient safety after it found women who were “not being listened to or believed led to emergencies, misdiagnosis and years of unnecessary pain.”

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In January, the Minister of State for Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Patient Safety, Nadine Dorries, provided a response to each of the recommendations made in the report – but many areas were still under consideration leaving many unanswered questions.

Mrs Griffiths is one of five women calling for the update. She joins Bonita Barrett, 46, in York; Chloe Thurston, 22, in Corsham, near Bath; Jacqui Shaw, 54, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Paula Goss, 51, in Bristol, whose lives have also been turned upside down by mesh.

Mrs Griffiths said: “There is no doubt in my mind that there are thousands of people, if not more, having their lives ripped apart because of mesh and completely unaware that’s the cause.

"Mesh turned my life upside down and has had a significant impact on my family and my relationship with them.

“I hope International Mesh Awareness Day (May 1) pushes those in power to implement the changes needed to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Among the nine recommendations made in the First Do No Harm Report was to appoint an independent patient safety commissioner, overhaul the regulator of medicines and medical devices (the MHRA), establish regional specialist centres and set up a task force to implement all of the report’s recommendations and strengthen the patients’ voice.

The mesh-injured women are just five of more than 400 people being represented by social justice law firm, Thompsons Solicitors, which is pursuing mesh claims on their behalf.

It is thought tens of thousands of people have been affected by mesh, maybe more, with many not knowing the cause of their pain.

Linda Millband, head of clinical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors, said: “So far, the government’s response is nothing more than hollow words. Only three out of nine of the recommendations have had an update of any real substance.

“The fact that the government is still “considering” the eighth recommendation, that doctors’ financial and non-pecuniary interests should be declared and publicly available, is an absolute farce, especially in light of everything we’ve seen with convicted breast surgeon, Ian Paterson.

“These recommendations were made for a reason and every day they are not implemented, is another day patients are at risk.

“It’s high time the government stops using the pandemic as an excuse for its inefficiency and callous disinterest in patient safety and fully implements recommendations that are gathering dust.”