Swann responds to Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review Report

Date published: 8 July 2020

He said: “I am aware of the publication today of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review Report. The report highlights failure of the healthcare system in a number of areas including the need to listen and understand patients’ voices and their concerns raised around certain treatments. While the focus of the report is on the Healthcare system in England it is recognised that many women from here took the time to submit their experience thereby highlighting similar failures within our service.”

Offering his support to the women the Health Minister Robin Swann said: “I must apologise to these women and others who were similarly affected, on behalf of the system, and I must offer my thanks to those women for taking the time to highlight these concerns to the review. While our healthcare system does treat the majority of patients safely the message is that we can do better.

“We will now give this review report the full and careful consideration it deserves within the local and national context. We will continue to engage with colleagues across the UK including the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency in this regard.

“I am pleased that we have already made substantial headway in meeting one of these recommendations through our Specialist Regional Mesh Centre at the Belfast Health and Care Trust. This centre, initially developed through transformational monies arising from the confidence and supply arrangement, is now being allocated additional recurrent funding from 20/21 in order to improve the level of service to patients suffering from vaginal mesh complications.”