Surgical mesh: Report reveals restorative justice helpful for victims but action to protect others slow

Report shows restorative justice for those harmed by surgical mesh helpful but hasn't been met with action to protect others. Photo / 123RF

A new report reveals hundreds of people harmed by surgical mesh found the Government's restorative justice process helped their psychological healing but were concerned it hadn't been met with action to protect others.

It comes after the Ministry of Health heard stories from 600 people, mainly women, injured by surgical mesh, in 2019, in a bid to address the evolving problem.

They found many suffered chronic debilitating pain, erosion, infection and were left unable to walk without aid, have sex or exercise. Some tried to take their own life as a result.

In the Victoria University report called Healing After Harm - released today - researchers uncovered the impact of that process.

"The impacts of surgical mesh harm were understood, and hearing the effects inspired
responsible parties to collaborate and act for repair and prevention," the report said.

However, it also said consumers were largely unaware of progress on the 19 actions that resulted from the Planning and Acting phase of the project and wanted a swifter response.

"For these reasons, many consumers were unsure if their substantive needs would be met or if safer healthcare would occur in the future," the report said.

Some were also disappointed the Government hadn't made a formal apology to those harmed by surgical mesh, the report said.

Surgical mesh has been used to treat many women with a condition called prolapse, where the walls of the vagina have been stretched and the pelvic floor muscles weaken causing organs - bladder, uterus or rectum - to slip down.

Around half of women who have a vaginal birth get a prolapse.

A small number of consumers continued to express the desire for disciplinary action against their treating doctor.

The Ministry of Health said, in a statement released today, of the 19 actions they set out to do nearly three years, six had been completed, nine were ongoing and four were still in progress.

They said they had set national standards and were working on establishing specialist service centres for mesh complications and developing education resources.

"We will soon release a New Zealand Credentialing Framework, which will be used in the future as the basis of a process to credential surgeons carrying out pelvic floor procedures, to give confidence that they are appropriately qualified and skilled to do so. This will replace the current use of the Australian credentialing framework."