Calls for halt to mesh surgery after surgeon struck off

Calls are being made for an immediate suspension of rectopexy bowel mesh surgery after the surgeon who pioneered the procedure was struck off.

Bristol surgeon Tony Dixon was removed from the medical register for serious misconduct, including performing unnecessary surgeries and fabricating patient records.

Patient safety campaigners and MPs say there is now growing concern over the credibility of his research, which underpins the procedure used to treat bowel conditions.

Kath Sansom, founder of the patient-led campaign group Sling the Mesh, said: "The government must suspend rectopexy mesh procedures immediately and launch a full review."

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence there are "well‑recognised, serious but infrequent complications" with this type of surgery.

But Ms Sansom said: "Women have suffered horrific complications - pain, mesh erosion where it slices into nearby organs and tissues, nerve damage - and many were never warned.

"Our rectopexy members suffer some of the most horrific life-changing complications, including a high number now living with stoma bags as a result."

Mr Dixon pioneered the LVMR (laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy) procedure and promoted it through a series of studies.

But two separate tribunals found him to have performed operations on five patients without obtaining informed consent and that one of these procedures was not clinically indicated.

They also found that he failed to provide post operative care and to have dishonestly created patient records long after he was involved in their care.

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Source: BBC News, 4 September 2025