Calls grow over compensation for victims of pelvic mesh and sodium valproate scandals

The government is under renewed pressure to decide on compensation for individuals who have suffered avoidable harm from pelvic mesh and the epilepsy drug sodium valproate.

More than two years after the Hughes Report called for a two-stage redress scheme, its author, Professor Henrietta Hughes, England’s patient safety commissioner, has expressed disappointment over the "continued absence of visible and timely progress".

Campaigners insist compensation "is not optional and is long overdue".

Transvaginal mesh implants, used for pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence after childbirth between 1998 and 2020, have caused debilitating harm, leading in some cases to women having their bladders or bowels removed.

The Hughes report had suggested victims should start to receive interim compensation payments from 2025.

It said an interim award of £25,000 was the “median amount patients said would be appropriate”.

However, Prof Hughes said the Government has still not given a “substantive response” to her recommendations.

She has written to No 10 for more information under the Medicines and Medical Devices Act, with a response deadline set for 16 July.

Kath Sansom, founder of campaign group Sling the Mesh, said the “evidence has been undeniable about the thousands of women living with devastating, irreversible injuries caused by treatments they trusted”.

“These women did everything right. They trusted their doctors. And for that trust, they’ve paid with their health, their jobs, their savings, and for some their marriages, but moreover their sense of self,” she added.

“This is not good enough. They should not be forced to fight through the courts for justice over a piece of plastic mesh that has shattered their lives.

“The Government must act now. Full, fair and urgent financial compensation is not optional, it is long overdue.”

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Source: The Independent, 26 June 2026