The pelvic mesh scandal makes it clear: doctors must declare any funding (The Guardian, 9 July 2020)

Summary

We need a public register to show if healthcare professionals are in the pay of industry – or more patients will suffer, writes Margaret McCartney following the publication of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review.

Hospitals in England are meant to publish registers of interest of staff – but a 2016 study shows that only a minority give the details they should. A publicly accessible digital register, updated at least annually and compelled by the regulator, would create transparency and get rid of the huge amount of work that campaigners have had to do to untangle where conflicts lie.

Declarations alone can’t sort the problems of conflicted medicine. But a public register would allow us to know whose advice isn’t independent. We will still need to be alert to the unintended consequences of a register, and research will be needed.

The UK is lagging behind. Kath Sansom, a journalist who founded the Sling the Mesh campaign, told Margaret: “I had no idea that I couldn’t trust my doctor or surgeon to give the best advice. It is essential that medics declare industry funding.”