Chamber and committees

Jacqueline Thomson submission of 26 July 2021

PE1865/CCC - Suspend all surgical mesh and fixation devices

I had mesh implanted in 2007, age 49, at The Borders General Hospital. It was suggested by the surgeons to deal with slight Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and to help partial prolapse. There were immediate problems following surgery with damage to my left hip and mesh within the vagina. My complaints about the discomfort were ignored but an erosion was found in 2008 with the help of a GP who thought it was a "stitch". My surgeon buried this mesh in the vaginal wall under a local anaesthetic. He told me to forget about mesh and that I would have no further problems.

In the intervening years I saw many GPs and Urogynaecologists. I was in Norwich following a divorce trying to get help as I was aware there were problems. I saw one gynaecologist privately at the outset and she confirmed no evidence of partial prolapse. I was later referred to the urogynaecology team where over the course of the next ten years all sorts of suggestions were made about my health but was being told mesh does not cause any of the symptoms which I was reporting.

Prior to my move back to Scotland in 2019 I was finally seen and examined in London. I was never seen by my surgeon, but one of their team was able to visualise mesh within my urethra in an extremely painful exam with no anaesthesia. I was traumatised by this exam and the findings. I was asked to sign a Surgical Consent and told I needed urgent surgery to fully remove mesh and I complied. The surgeon sent me a letter two days later to say that they were not prepared to undertake the surgery.

In June 2020 I received a private consultation in Edinburgh. The doctor was able to feel this mesh and ordered an MRI and Cystocopy. Following this I was referred me to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow where they would offer a partial removal in one operation or full removal in further procedures. A letter from them in May 2021 tells me there is no further pathway for removal outside of Scotland at the present time and also that I need urgent surgery. I have had considerably more pain in my left leg since their physical examination.

With thanks to the work of the previously convened Petitions Committee dealing with Scottish Mesh Survivors and their experience I am aware this situation will no doubt change and presumably this is part of the remit you will be exploring.

Mesh victims like myself have been waiting for a very long time to be heard at all at any level. It would seem GPs do not understand what is happening to us and disregard us. Consultants do not or choose not to listen and give us persistent denial.

Every one of us has been ignored and told we are imagining this.

For years I now know I have been existing with infected mesh within my urethra and also running up to my hip where TVTO is put through into the area of the Obturator Nerve - hence potential nerve damage affecting mobility - as my body tries to reject the plastic implant as a Foreign Body.

I am unable to work, unable to maintain a physical relationship with my new husband and am facing this horror alone and unsupported.

There are many accounts of corrective surgeries causing more damage with multiple surgeries of anywhere between 5 and up to 20 with loss of bladder, bowel and mobility.

Our final years of productive working time to support ourselves has been taken away at huge financial loss by mesh complications which will result also in severely depleted pensions.

I very much hope many of us will be able to benefit from the services of Dr Veronikis to help. He and his team would appear to understand more about mesh removal and are open and transparent in the work they do.

I believe his team has the ability to mitigate damage to nerves and works on a tissue saving principle and would be my best option to save my mobility going forward in my life. I believe the expertise in his team goes beyond urogynaecology which is appropriate when we are dealing with major nerve systems within the body.

I welcome the part that members of this Committee will be able to play to find ways of helping mesh women in Scotland. I hope they may be guided with the First Do No Harm Report. Over the years we have been badly let down by the medical profession and our lives shattered by this gold standard procedure which should never have been allowed and should never maim women going forward into the future.