How can they not know? Missing data and half-measures continue to fail mesh-injured women (19 June 2026)

Summary

Kath Sansom, founder of Sling the Mesh, asked what should be an easy mesh data question.

Except nobody at NHS England can answer. Which tells us everything about gaps in accountability.

The question? How many women have had to have part of their bladder or bowel removed because pelvic mesh eroded into their organs? How many are now living with a stoma bag because of these complications?

The answer should exist. It should be easy to find. It should be centrally recorded.

But NHS England says it does not hold this information.

We are talking about some of the most severe, life-changing outcomes possible and there is no national record. Women are instead told that the data might sit with individual Trusts, scattered and inaccessible unless someone tries to piece it together manually.

That’s not transparency. That’s a system that doesn’t fully see the harm it has caused.