Question reference: S6W-25467
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 14 February 2024
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Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 29 February 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much public money has been spent to reimburse the costs associated with mesh injured women experiencing private mesh removal surgery in the period since the Transvaginal Mesh Removal Reimbursement Scheme opened for applications.
Answer
As at 15 February 2024, £481,423.63 had been paid to applicants. Administration costs to the same date are approximately £120,000.
The original scheme closure date was specified in the Scheme documentation and announced at the time of the Scheme’s opening as 6 December 2023. This date was then extended to 31 March 2024. The Government therefore urges any woman who wishes to apply, but has not yet done so, to ensure that an application is sent prior to this date.
The closure of the Reimbursement Scheme to applications has no effect on the arrangements that NHS National Services Scotland has entered into with both Spire Hospital, Bristol, and Dr Veronikis in the USA. In any situation where it is determined that removal surgery is clinically appropriate, the patient will remain able to choose, via the official NHS referral process, to have that surgery carried out in the Complex Mesh Surgical Service in Glasgow, in an NHS England centre, or by one of the two contracted independent providers.