Independent Report of the Patient Reference Group – response to the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review (21 July 2021)

Summary

This report is from the Patient Reference Group established to provide advice, challenge and scrutiny to work to develop the government response to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review, sometimes referred to as the Cumberlege Review.

Content

The IMMDS Review examined how the healthcare system in England responded to reports about harmful side effects of medicines and medical devices, focusing on three specific interventions: Hormone pregnancy tests, Sodium valproate and Pelvic mesh implants. Its findings and recommendations were published in the First Do No Harm report on 8 July 2020.

The Department of Health and Social Care established a Patient Reference Group to provide advice, challenge and scrutiny to work to develop the government response to the First Do No Harm report. Its independent end-of-project report sets out the Patient Reference Group’s reflections on the IMMDS Review report’s recommendations and patient experience and engagement more widely.

The report below has been published alongside the government response to the recommendations of the IMMDS Review.

Related reading

• Analysing the Cumberlege Review: Who should join the dots for patient safety (Patient Safety Learning)
• Consultation: The appointment and operation of the Patient Safety Commissioner for England (Department of Health and Social Care)
• House of Commons Debate – Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review: 8 July 2021
• No such thing as a free lunch – why recording conflicts of interests must be mandatory (Kath Sansom)
• Regulatory flaws: Women were catastrophically failed in the mesh, Primodos and Sodium Valproate tragedies (Kath Sansom)
• Sodium Valproate: The Fetal Valproate Syndrome Tragedy (Sharon Hartles)