Preview Newsletter
9.12.18 End of Day Report Ethicon
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Health secretary calls a halt to use of mesh implants in Scotland
| Herald Scotland
By Martin Williams
SCOTLAND'S health boards have been told to "immediately halt" the use of mesh implants altogether in surgery. -
Health boards ordered to stop using mesh implants
| STV News
Health boards in Scotland have been told to immediately stop using vaginal mesh implants. -
'Immediate' halt on use of mesh implants in Scotland
| BBC News
Scotland's health boards have been ordered to "immediately" halt the use of vaginal mesh implants in surgery. -
Holyrood Live Report
| BBC News
By Craig Hutchison and Louise Wilson
Scotland's health boards have been ordered to "immediately" halt the use of vaginal mesh implants in surgery. -
Effective ban for mesh implants in Scotland announced
| Holyrood
By Tom Freeman
NHS Scotland is to halt the use of transvaginal mesh implants to treat incontinence and organ prolapse, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced. -
Jeane Freeman announces ‘immediate’ Scotland mesh implant ban
| The Scotsman
By Kevan Christie
The use of transvaginal mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland, the health secretary has announced. -
Mesh implants to be banned in Scotland after death of woman
| Evening Times
By Caroline Wilson
THE use of mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland for certain conditions following the death of a woman linked to the device. -
Mesh implant use halted in Scotland after link to woman's death
| Daily Record
By Catriona Webster
The use of mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland for certain conditions, the health secretary has announced. -
Son to sue over mother's implant surgery death after
| Herald Scotland
By Martin Williams
THE GRIEVING son of a woman who died after implant surgery is to make a damages claim while saying a Scotland-wide mesh implant operation ban announced by the health secretary has come "far too late". -
Immediate halt on use of mesh implants in NHS Scotland
| Aberdeen Evening Express
The use of mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland for certain conditions, the health secretary has announced.
Online Sources
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Health secretary calls a halt to use of mesh implants in Scotland
| Herald Scotland
By Martin Williams
SCOTLAND'S health boards have been told to "immediately halt" the use of mesh implants altogether in surgery.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman made the announcement following the death of Eileen Baxter, 75, in August.
Multiple organ failure was said to have led to Mrs Baxter’s death, with sacrocolopexy mesh repair – an implant to fix a pelvic organ prolapse – noted as an underlying cause.
Her son Mark, 52, has called for the products to be completely banned.
Ms Freeman said NHS boards had been told to halt the use of mesh in cases of pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.This will continue until a new "restricted use protocol" is drawn up.
Other mesh procedures, such as transabdominal mesh, will be kept under active review and will also be subject to high vigilance procedures.She also praised the bravery of women who have come forward to share their problems following vaginal mesh surgery.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland has established a group to oversee any continued use of the treatment.
And Ms Freeman said the chief medical officer has continued to keep the issueunder review and is listening to the women who have been affected of this.
She said: “I have today asked the Chief Medical Officer to instruct Health Boards to immediately halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol that will ensure procedures are carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances and subject to a robust process of approval and fully informed consent.
“The instruction to halt is, I believe, a proportionate measure whilst a rigorous, high vigilance restricted use ptotocol for any future practice is developed and put in place.
“The lifting of this halt in use can only be considered once there is confidence that there is sufficient evidence that the protocol can only be triggered in only the most limited of circumstances – informed by any new evidence and the forthcoming NICE guidance which is expected in the spring of next year on the management of pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.”
Holyrood’ public petitions committee had called for the use of mesh implants to stop, citing “serious concerns” over an independent review into their use.
That review concluded the procedure – used in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) – must not be offered “routinely” to women with pelvic organ prolapse.
The review was announced by the Scottish Government in 2014, with health boards requested to stop the procedure until its conclusion.
It remains under suspension in NHS Scotland except in exceptional circumstances.
The review’s final report was branded a “whitewash” by some women who have suffered painful and debilitating complications from mesh, including campaigners Elaine Holmes and Olive McIlroy.
Professor Alison Britton has been commissioned to conduct a review of the review, which is due to report later this year.
Mrs Baxter from Loanhead, died in hospital in Edinburgh last month.
She underwent mesh surgery five years ago. Her death certificate lists this as an antecedent cause of death that caused chronic pelvic inflammation and possible sepsis, leading to anterior rectal perforation and finally the multiple organ failure that ultimately resulted in her death.
And Labour MSP Neil Findlay said that he understood it was the first time mesh had been specifically cited as an underlying cause of death in Scotland.
Hundreds of women in Scotland have suffered painful and debilitating complications from being given mesh implants, including infections, bleeding and even paralysis.
The use of mesh implants in NHS Scotland was suspended four years ago in all but exceptional circumstances.
But the following year it was found several health boards were still carrying out the operations. Critics say hundreds have been performed since then.
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Health boards ordered to stop using mesh implants
| STV News
Health boards in Scotland have been told to immediately stop using vaginal mesh implants.
The move comes after campaigners called for the procedure to be halted after implants were implicated in the death of one woman and serious medical complications in many others.
Health minister Jeanne Freeman told MSPs on Wednesday that she had now taken the step of halting implant procedures across Scotland.
In a statement at Holyrood, Ms Freeman said an effective ban would be in place until the introduction of a new "restricted use protocol".
This would ensure the procedure would not be used except in the most exceptional circumstances, where there was no clinical alternative and it was the express wish of the woman concerned after receiving full information.
She said: "I have today asked the chief medical officer to instruct health boards to immediately halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol that will ensure procedures are carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances and subject to a robust process of approval and fully informed consent.
"The instruction to halt is I believe a proportionate measure whilst a rigorous high vigilance restricted use protocol for any future practice is developed and put in place.
"The lifting of this halt in use can only be considered once there is confidence that there's sufficient evidence that the protocol will only be triggered in only the most limited of circumstances."
Ms Freeman said the halt would not affect other uses of mesh for example for hernia repair, an area that would be kept under review.
Women currently waiting for a mesh procedure under the 12-week treatment time guarantee would also be allowed to proceed provided it is their express wish to do so.
Mesh implants are generally used to treat severe incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse, often caused by pregnancy.
Chief medical officer Catherine Calderwood previously told STV surgeons should be able to use the implants in "very exceptional circumstances", and then only after discussing the possible complications with their patient.
"We've heard from women with terrible life changing injuries following the use of mesh and we must prevent that happening in the future," she said.
"What we do have is a small number of women with very, very debilitating symptoms from their incontinence, their prolapse and in whom there is no choice but to use mesh which will actually improve their quality of life."
Labour's Neil Findlay "warmly welcomed" the announcement but criticised the time it had taken to come about.
He said: "This is something I and the Scottish Mesh Survivors have been calling for for the last six years and had the Scottish Government acted at the time then thousands of women would have been spared the enduring anxiety and misery of lost mobility, constant pain and ruined lives... and as we know of last week, even death."
Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee had already called for the use of mesh implants to stop, citing "serious concerns" over an independent review into their use.
That review concluded the procedure must not be offered "routinely" to women with pelvic organ prolapse.
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'Immediate' halt on use of mesh implants in Scotland
| BBC News
Scotland's health boards have been ordered to "immediately" halt the use of vaginal mesh implants in surgery.
The controversial implants were listed as an underlying cause of death of a woman in August, sparking calls for an inquiry and an outright ban.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said NHS boards had been told to stop using mesh in cases of pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.
This will continue until a new "restricted use protocol" is drawn up.
Mesh implants are used by surgeons to treat conditions which some women suffer after childbirth, with the synthetic substance used to repair damaged or weakened tissue. More than 100,000 women across the UK have been given them over the past 20 years.
The use of mesh in Scotland was suspended in all but "exceptional circumstances" in 2014 after it emerged some women had suffered painful side-effects - but the procedure has still been used hundreds of times since.
NHS England has also recently curbed the use of mesh on safety grounds, although it is still available as a treatment of last resort for some.
There were calls for a fresh review of protocols in Scotland after it was revealed that mesh was listed as an underlying cause of death in the case of Eileen Baxter, of Loanhead.
The 75-year-old died in hospital in Edinburgh in August. While multiple organ failure was cited as the primary cause on her death certificate, "sacrocolpopexy mesh repair" was named as an underlying factor.
This is actually a different procedure to the ones now effectively banned, but it still led to calls for action at Holyrood, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying she would "give careful consideration" to a review of the use of mesh.
Earlier in August, MSPs on Holyrood's public petitions committee urged ministers to take stronger action to ban the use of mesh outright.
Ms Freeman told MSPs on Wednesday that she wanted to be sure that all treatment options offered to patients were "as safe as possible".
She said: "I have today asked the chief medical officer to instruct health boards to immediately halt the use of trans-vaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence."
Ms Freeman added that once agreed, a new "restricted-use protocol" would ensure the procedure was only used in the most exceptional circumstances and subject to robust approval processes with informed consent from patients.
'Long time coming'
She said: "This halt in use will not affect other uses of mesh, for example in hernia repair, but these are areas we will continue to keep under review.
"The instruction to halt is, I believe, a proportionate measure, while a rigorous, high vigilance restricted-use protocol for a future practice is developed and put in place."
The move was broadly welcomed by opposition parties, with Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw telling Ms Freeman "well done" on this "decisive step".
He added: "The priority now has to be assuring women across Scotland that these measures can be enforced, and that no-one in future will experience the horrific stories we've seen heard as part of this process."
Labour's Neil Findlay, who had earlier raised the issue with Ms Sturgeon, said he "warmly welcomed" the move, but said campaigners had been calling for it for years.
He said: "This has been a long time coming for survivors of mesh implants, but for many it has come too late."
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| BBC News
By Craig Hutchison and Louise Wilson
Goodbye from Holyrood Live on Wednesday 12 September 2018.
Scotland's health boards have been ordered to "immediately" halt the use of vaginal mesh implants in surgery.
The controversial implants were listed as an underlying cause of death of a woman in August, sparking calls for an inquiry and an outright ban.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said NHS boards had been told to stop using mesh in cases of pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.
This will continue until a new "restricted use protocol" is drawn up.
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Effective ban for mesh implants in Scotland announced
| Holyrood
By Tom Freeman
NHS Scotland is to halt the use of transvaginal mesh implants to treat incontinence and organ prolapse, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced.
The procedure has been suspended in Scotland for four years while a safety review was carried out, and then a subsequent review into the process of the first review was launched after it was branded an industry-led ‘whitewash’.
Another 500 women have undergone the procedure since, despite warning of severe complications in some cases.
Last week the implant was listed as a factor in a death for the first time.
In a statement to MSPs, Freeman said the Chief Medical Officer had told health boards to “immediately halt” use of transvaginal mesh “pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol, that will ensure procedures are only carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances”.
Women currently waiting for the treatment will be given the option to go ahead, but no further patients will be offered it in the meantime, she said.
The move was welcomed by Scottish Conservative Jackson Carlaw and Scottish Labour’s Neil Findlay who have campaigned on the issue, who questioned the integrity of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA), who authorised the products, and asked when the review of the review is due.
Freeman said she did not know when the independent review would arrive.
She added: “What I have attempted to do today is listen to the women who have campaigned on this issue and recognise the evidence that has been put before me.”
Former SNP health secretary Alex Neil, who ordered the original review into the procedure, also called for the MRHA to be tackled across the UK.
“A regulator funded by the industry it is supposed to regulate is not fit for purpose,” he said.
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Jeane Freeman announces ‘immediate’ Scotland mesh implant ban
| The Scotsman
By Kevan Christie
The use of transvaginal mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland, the health secretary has announced.This does not include other procedures such as transabdominal mesh which 75-year-old Mrs Baxter underwent for a pelvic organ prolapse but these will be subject to “high vigilance” procedures. There was mixed reaction to the news, with campaigners urging the health secretary to implement a total ban on the use of mesh products. Mark Baxter, Mrs Baxter’s son, expressed concern at the decision, while opposition politicians welcomed the move. Mr Baxter said: “The underlying cause of my mum’s death was the mesh, that’s what cut through her bowel, that’s what caused the damage – this announcement dosen’t address that. My understanding is it’s the product that causes the damage, and it’s barbaric they’re using this material in the first place.”
Elaine Holmes and Olive McIlroy on behalf of the Scottish Mesh Survivors campaign said they were disappointed for the Baxter family and their hearts went out to them. They said: “As a result of The Scotsman breaking the story of Eileen’s death and mesh being an underlying cause, we believe that this has prompted the announcement. The fact is that abdominal mesh is not going to be included in this halt. When we took our petition to the parliament in 2014 there was only a small number of us and we all had transvaginal mesh, that is what our petition is about. Since then we now have many people in our group who have similar mesh to Eileen, we also have men and women with hernia mesh. If we were doing our petition again we would widen it and we would include all mesh.” Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay welcomed the decision but criticised the SNP for taking too long to stop the use of the product. He added: “This is a welcome move that represents a victory for campaigners and the many victims of one of the greatest corporate scandals of recent times. Hundreds of women have had their lives ruined by mesh implants and it is right that the government has finally acted. The procedures that have now been halted are not the type that contributed to Eileen Baxter’s death. Mesh’s horrific consequences have been known for years – and many women may now be suffering as a result of this delay.”
Ms Freeman said: “I have asked the chief medical officer to instruct health boards to immediately halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol that will ensure procedures are carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances.” -
Mesh implants to be banned in Scotland after death of woman
| Evening Times
By Caroline Wilson
THE use of mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland for certain conditions following the death of a woman linked to the device
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said an effective ban would be in place until the introduction of a new “restricted use protocol”.
This would ensure the procedure would not be used except in the most exceptional circumstances, where there was no clinical alternative and it was the express wish of the woman concerned after receiving full information.
Ms Freeman updated MSPs the week after it emerged the death of 75-year-old Eileen Baxter in August was linked to a mesh implant.
She said: “I have today asked the chief medical officer to instruct health boards to immediately halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol that will ensure procedures are carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances and subject to a robust process of approval and fully informed consent.
“The instruction to halt is I believe a proportionate measure whilst a rigorous high vigilance restricted use protocol for any future practice is developed and put in place.
“The lifting of this halt in use can only be considered once there is confidence that there’s sufficient evidence that the protocol will only be triggered in only the most limited of circumstances.”
Ms Freeman said the halt would not affect other uses of mesh for example for hernia repair, an area that would be kept under review.
Women currently waiting for a mesh procedure under the 12-week treatment time guarantee would also be allowed to proceed provided it is their express wish to do so.
The issue first came to prominence with the lodging of a petition at Holyrood by those who have suffered painful and debilitating complications from mesh, including campaigners Elaine Holmes and Olive McIlroy.
Responding to the statement, Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw said: “It does seem to many I hope as a decisive step on a pathway to a different approach to the whole question of mesh and I hope that Elaine Holmes, Olive McIlroy and all the women who will I hope be watching can at least give one unqualified cheer for the progress that it represents.”
Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee had already called for the use of mesh implants to stop, citing “serious concerns” over an independent review into their use.
-
Mesh implant use halted in Scotland after link to woman's death
| Daily Record
By Catriona Webster
The use of mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland for certain conditions, the health secretary has announced.
In a statement at Holyrood, Jeane Freeman said an effective ban would be in place until the introduction of a new "restricted use protocol".
This would ensure the procedure would not be used except in the most exceptional circumstances, where there was no clinical alternative and it was the express wish of the woman concerned after receiving full information.
Freeman updated MSPs the week after it emerged the death of 75-year-old Eileen Baxter in August was linked to a mesh implant.
She said: "I have today asked the chief medical officer to instruct health boards to immediately halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol that will ensure procedures are carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances and subject to a robust process of approval and fully informed consent.
"The instruction to halt is I believe a proportionate measure whilst a rigorous high vigilance restricted use protocol for any future practice is developed and put in place.
"The lifting of this halt in use can only be considered once there is confidence that there's sufficient evidence that the protocol will only be triggered in only the most limited of circumstances."
Freeman said the halt would not affect other uses of mesh for example for hernia repair, an area that would be kept under review.
Women currently waiting for a mesh procedure under the 12-week treatment time guarantee would also be allowed to proceed provided it is their express wish to do so.
The issue first came to prominence with the lodging of a petition at Holyrood by those who have suffered painful and debilitating complications from mesh, including campaigners Elaine Holmes and Olive McIlroy.
Responding to the statement, Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw said: "It does seem to many I hope as a decisive step on a pathway to a different approach to the whole question of mesh and I hope that Elaine Holmes, Olive McIlroy and all the women who will I hope be watching can at least give one unqualified cheer for the progress that it represents."
He said there was still an opportunity for the government and parliament to apologise to women whose lives have been damaged by mesh.
Labour's Neil Findlay also "warmly welcomed" the announcement but criticised the time it had taken to come about.
He said: "This is something I and the Scottish Mesh Survivors have been calling for for the last six years and had the Scottish Government acted at the time then thousands of women would have been spared the enduring anxiety and misery of lost mobility, constant pain and ruined lives... and as we know of last week, even death."
Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee had already called for the use of mesh implants to stop, citing "serious concerns" over an independent review into their use.
That review concluded the procedure must not be offered "routinely" to women with pelvic organ prolapse.
Health boards were requested to stop the procedure when the review was announced in 2014 and it remained under suspension in NHS Scotland except in exceptional circumstances.
Professor Alison Britton has been commissioned to conduct a review of the review, which is due to report later this year.
-
Son to sue over mother's implant surgery death after
| Herald Scotland
By Martin Williams
THE GRIEVING son of a woman who died after implant surgery is to make a damages claim while saying a Scotland-wide mesh implant operation ban announced by the health secretary has come "far too late".
Eileen Baxter, 75, who died last month is believed to be the first in Scotland to have mesh implant surgery listed as an underlying cause.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said Scotland's health boards had been told yesterday to "immediately halt" the use of mesh implants in surgery in Scotland Multiple organ failure was said to have led to Mrs Baxter’s death, with sacrocolopexy mesh repair – an implant to fix a pelvic organ prolapse – noted as an underlying cause.
Her son Mark, 52, said he is now preparing a claim for damages over his mother's death and said the ban does not go far enough.
He believes the mesh itself should be banned, not just the procedure.
Mr Baxter from Peebles said if the Scottish Government had acted sooner his mother would still be alive.
Labour's Lothian MSP Neil Findlay, a prominent campaigner for a ban, said that the decision has come four years after major concerns were first raised at Holyrood.
Mr Baxter said: "I am pleased about what has happened. But we we will legally fight this because someone has to be responsible for the death.
"This ban should have come in years ago. I don't know how they have continued to use it.
"My mum would definitely have been still alive if there had been a ban. When we spoke to the doctors at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary they were so surprised that her bowel had ruptured. Asked if it would result in a damages claim he said: "Yes, 100 per cent. But I need to find out who is responsible."
He added: "To me it is all about the mesh not just the procedure. I am no medical expert but there should be a total ban on the mesh, not just the procedure. I feel that the mesh should be cleared from all the shelves of the NHS. It's the mesh that is causing the problem.
"This mesh goes hard, it goes brittle and it starts to affect the nerve endings, it cuts through organs such as the bladder, the bowel etc."
Hundreds of women in Scotland have suffered painful and debilitating complications from being given mesh implants, including infections, bleeding and even paralysis.
The use of mesh implants in NHS Scotland was suspended four years ago in all but exceptional circumstances.
But the following year it was found several health boards were still carrying out the operations. Critics say hundreds have been performed since then.
Ms Freeman said NHS boards had been told to halt the use of mesh in cases of pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.This will continue until a new "restricted use protocol" is drawn up.
Other mesh procedures, such as transabdominal mesh, will be kept under active review and will also be subject to "high vigilance procedures".
Labour's Lothian MSP Neil Findlay, a prominent campaigner for a ban, said the ban had been a "long time coming for survivors of mesh implants".
He added: "No-one should have lost their life, mobility or their future due to a procedure that was supposed to help them.
"The Scottish Government will now have to listen to the brave women who have experienced the consequences of mesh. Today is a victory for them."
Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw said there was still an opportunity for the government and parliament to apologise to women whose lives have been damaged by mesh.
Ms Freeman said the chief medical officer has continued to keep the issue under review and is listening to the women who have been affected of this.
She said: “I have asked the Chief Medical Officer to instruct Health Boards to immediately halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol that will ensure procedures are carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances and subject to a robust process of approval and fully informed consent.
“The instruction to halt is, I believe, a proportionate measure whilst a rigorous, high vigilance restricted use ptotocol for any future practice is developed and put in place."
Holyrood’ public petitions committee had called for the use of mesh implants to stop, citing “serious concerns” over an independent review into their use.
That review concluded the procedure – used in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) – must not be offered “routinely” to women with pelvic organ prolapse.
The review was announced by the Scottish Government in 2014, with health boards requested to stop the procedure until its conclusion.
It remains under suspension in NHS Scotland except in exceptional circumstances.
The review’s final report was branded a “whitewash” by some women who have suffered painful and debilitating complications from mesh, including campaigners Elaine Holmes and Olive McIlroy.
Professor Alison Britton was commissioned to conduct a review of the review, which is due to report later this year.
Mrs Baxter from Loanhead, died in hospital in Edinburgh last month.
She underwent mesh surgery five years ago. Her death certificate lists this as an antecedent cause of death that caused chronic pelvic inflammation and possible sepsis, leading to anterior rectal perforation and finally the multiple organ failure that ultimately resulted in her death.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Our condolences and sympathy remain with the family and friends of Ms Baxter.
"The health secretary has previously said she is happy to meet with Mr Baxter and we are currently working to arrange a suitable date."
-
Immediate halt on use of mesh implants in NHS Scotland
| Aberdeen Evening Express
The use of mesh implants has been immediately halted in NHS Scotland for certain conditions, the health secretary has announced.
In a statement at Holyrood, Jeane Freeman said an effective ban would be in place until the introduction of a new “restricted use protocol”.
This would ensure the procedure would not be used except in the most exceptional circumstances, where there was no clinical alternative and it was the express wish of the woman concerned after receiving full information.
Ms Freeman updated MSPs the week after it emerged the death of 75-year-old Eileen Baxter in August was linked to a mesh implant.
She said: “I have today asked the chief medical officer to instruct health boards to immediately halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol that will ensure procedures are carried out only in the most exceptional circumstances and subject to a robust process of approval and fully informed consent.
“The instruction to halt is I believe a proportionate measure whilst a rigorous high vigilance restricted use protocol for any future practice is developed and put in place.
“The lifting of this halt in use can only be considered once there is confidence that there’s sufficient evidence that the protocol will only be triggered in only the most limited of circumstances.”
Ms Freeman said the halt would not affect other uses of mesh for example for hernia repair, an area that would be kept under review.
Women currently waiting for a mesh procedure under the 12-week treatment time guarantee would also be allowed to proceed provided it is their express wish to do so.
The issue first came to prominence with the lodging of a petition at Holyrood by those who have suffered painful and debilitating complications from mesh, including campaigners Elaine Holmes and Olive McIlroy.
Responding to the statement, Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw said: “It does seem to many I hope as a decisive step on a pathway to a different approach to the whole question of mesh and I hope that Elaine Holmes, Olive McIlroy and all the women who will I hope be watching can at least give one unqualified cheer for the progress that it represents.”
He said there was still an opportunity for the government and parliament to apologise to women whose lives have been damaged by mesh.
Labour’s Neil Findlay also “warmly welcomed” the announcement but criticised the time it had taken to come about.
He said: “This is something I and the Scottish Mesh Survivors have been calling for for the last six years and had the Scottish Government acted at the time then thousands of women would have been spared the enduring anxiety and misery of lost mobility, constant pain and ruined lives… and as we know of last week, even death.”
Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee had already called for the use of mesh implants to stop, citing “serious concerns” over an independent review into their use.
That review concluded the procedure must not be offered “routinely” to women with pelvic organ prolapse.
Health boards were requested to stop the procedure when the review was announced in 2014 and it remained under suspension in NHS Scotland except in exceptional circumstances.
Professor Alison Britton has been commissioned to conduct a review of the review, which is due to report later this year.
Johann Lamont, convener of the public petitions committee, said: “We await a full response to the range of recommendations that the committee made and are particularly interested in reading Professor Britton’s report when it is published, given the complete collapse of confidence of the campaigners in the original review.”
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