Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review — House of Lords, 2020-07-15
Topic: Health
Dorothea Glenys Thornton (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I thank the Minister for the Statement. I start with the words of the chair of the review, our colleague, the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, who said when she launched the report last week that she was shocked by the sheer scale and intensity of suffering. She said: "I have conducted many reviews and inquiries over the years, but I have never encountered anything like this … Much of this suffering was entirely avoidable, caused and compounded by failings in the health system itself." I congratulate the noble Baroness on conducting an inquiry over the last two years that has been praised by everyone concerned, particularly the patient groups and those affected Some of us have been discussing the problems addressed in this report for many years. We have heard about the hormone pregnancy test Primodos, the anti-epileptic drug sodium valproate and, in recent years, use of vaginal mesh in surgery. It is important to pay tribute to the bravery and persistence of the patients and patient groups, but also to the parliamentarians whose work helped to persuade the Government to establish the inquiry two years ago. The All-Party Groups have been vital, as have Yasmin Qureshi MP, Norman Lamb MP, Owen Smith and Sharon Hodgson MP, to name but a few On the surface, the three medical issues are separate. What links the medicines and devices is that they were all taken or used by women—in two cases, by pregnant women. As my honourable friend Alex Norris MP said last week in the Commons, "these cases reek of misogyny from top to bottom—and ageism and ableism as well."—[Official Report, Commons, 9/7/20; cols. 1148-49.] We also have to look at the reaction of the healthcare system, which, according to the report, failed to monitor the use of these medicines and medical devices, then failed to identify and acknowledge the things that had gone wrong, then failed to work to improve. The review sets out the missed opportunities when something could or should have been done to prevent harm. Instead, there was a culture of denial, disjointedness and defensiveness that failed to listen to patients’ concerns Our NHS failed to protect these women and their families. It is therefore right and welcome that the Minister’s first reaction has been immediately to offer an unqualified apology, which is the first of the nine recommendations in the report. The Secretary of State said that listening and humility are in order. That is right, but it now needs to be followed by action to make the process worth while and to address the suffering. I hope that in this discussion the Minister will be able to outline what the Government will do to implement the rest of this report and to what time- scale. The most sensible way forward is the ninth recommendation, which is to set up a task force to implement the other recommendations. Will this be done, and by when On recommendation 2, I can see that progress has already been made. But can the Minister explain what legislative underpinning would be needed for a patient safety commissioner? Some of us are very puzzled as to where the delightfully named HSSIB is—the patient safety Bill—and whether that would have been a good complementary vehicle Recommendation 3 calls for: "A new independent Redress Agency for those harmed by medicines and medical devices" to create a new way of delivering redress in future. It suggests that manufacturers and the state should share the costs. Would the Minister care to tell us how that might be achieved Recommendation 4 suggests: "Separate schemes … for each intervention—HPTs, valproate and pelvic mesh—to meet the cost of providing additional care and support to those who have experienced avoidable harm" How might that be achieved? I also have one question relating to mesh and all other implants. How will the Government ensure that they are safe to use? A register is obviously a good step forward and is in the Bill that we will discuss in the next few months, but why do the regulations on implants not provide for trials, as with medicines On recommendation 6, will the Minister commit to amendments to the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill to strengthen the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s regulatory regime? On these Benches, we are committed to implementing the nine recommendations in this excellent report. We will seek to use the forthcoming MMD Bill to do so, and we wish to work with the Government to explore how best to achieve that.