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Campaigners demand action in a rally outside Parliament to mark World Patient Safety Day
Campaigners affected by the medical scandals of pelvic mesh implants, Primodos, and sodium valproate gathered outside Parliament to mark Patient Safety month with a powerful protest demanding justice and reform.
Joined by cross-party MPs from the First Do No Harm All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), the demonstrators called on the Government to fully implement all recommendations of the landmark Cumberlege Review.
The protest (Wednesday 10 September) was led by representatives impacted by the three medical interventions investigated in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, chaired by Baroness Julia Cumberlege.
The review, published in 2020, exposed systemic failures in patient safety and called for sweeping reform – including of the regulator the MHRA, an independent redress agency, specialist centres for treatment, financial redress and Sunshine legislation to improve transparency of payments from industry to the health sector.
Sharon Hodgson MP, Chair of the First Do No Harm APPG, who has been a vocal advocate for justice for women – including her mam who has been harmed by pelvic mesh, said after the event: “We are now five years on from the Cumberlege Review and over 18 months since the Hughes Report on redress – yet thousands of women and children are still waiting to be heard, acknowledged, and properly cared for. This is not just a delay; it is a systemic failure. Their pain, their stories, and their voices must not be ignored. Women and children deserve to be seen, believed, and supported. Campaigners are right to stand firm because until the Cumberlege recommendations are implemented and justice is truly delivered, the fight must go on.”
Source: Sling the Mesh, 10 September 2025