SNP plan to slash £10m from health services for women

Marion McMillan, 74, from Paisley, has suffered lifelong consequences as a result of a mesh implant. She says the move would be a “betrayal of all the years of promises made by former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.”

New moves to slash a further £27.6 million from Scotland’s health budget have been described as an “unforgivable betrayal” of women and children.

Doctors have already warned earlier cuts of £116m to the health and social care budget put patients at risk and leave the NHS in permanent crisis.

Now further cuts, uncovered by Scottish Labour’s Jackie Baillie, will see women and children hit worst of all.

Among the new proposals by SNP Health Minister Neil Gray is almost £10m slashed from women’s services and “reducing contingency funding for transvaginal mesh”.

The Scottish Government said last night there will be “no impact on surgical activity for women experiencing mesh complications”.

But mesh injured women, who fought for over a decade to get funding for implant removal, say the move is a “betrayal of all the years of promises made by former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.”

Mesh pledge

Sturgeon pledged mesh injured women would get the best available help after hundreds were left crippled in what has been described as “the worst health scandal since Thalidomide” after surgeons used plastic implants to cut costs when treating bladder problems brought on by childbirth.

Campaigners Scottish Mesh Survivors successfully fought to have the implants removed from hospitals and secured Scottish Government funding to pay for safe mesh removal overseas.

Marion McMillan, 74, from Paisley, one of around 100 women still hoping to get mesh removal in the US, said: “We fought for over a decade to force the government to take responsibility for what happened to us after the NHS decided to save £200 per patient by using mesh implants instead of the surgical methods which had no crippling side effects.

“I’m battling cancer right now, so I’m not well enough to get to the US. But it is still my dream to get there and have this plastic mesh removed from my body because of the devastating damage it’s still causing on a daily basis.”

Marion has suffered lifelong consequences as a result of a mesh implant. She said: “The NHS saved a few pennies by choosing to use mesh to treat our bladder problems, destroying our lives in the process.

“I was a childminder when the NHS said they’d fix my bladder problem with a ‘little operation’. It devastated my life.

Marion, who met Nicola Sturgeon to discuss the mesh scandal and on a second time when she fought for a Forced Adoption Apology, said: “I believed she was sincere when she promised to do everything she could to get mesh-injured women the best possible care.

“There are others like me still desperate to get to the US for removal surgery. Breaking the promise made to us would be an unforgivable betrayal.”

‘A devastating blow’

Gill Watt, of campaign group Scottish Mesh Survivors, said: “We battled to get the expert medical help we needed to have these mesh implants removed safely. Our latest estimates show around 100 injured women are still desperately waiting for surgical treatment outwith Scotland. Because of years of delays women have faced before they see mesh surgeons here to sanction their treatment outside of Scotland, the process has been terribly slow.

“Renewing contracts for just another year won’t solve the issue. These budget cuts will be a devastating blow to all of them who are already living in despair and constant pain.

“I just don’t know how those women still waiting for removal surgery will cope having this last hope removed from them.

“The NHS is very much aware of our feelings over the appalling level of service women have been receiving from their mesh centre in Glasgow, so what do they intend doing now?”

Health spokeswoman Baillie said: “It took years of campaigning by the survivors of the mesh scandal and their supporters to receive proper treatment, so it’s deeply worrying that this SNP government now seems to be backtracking on the level of its support.

“The last people who should be paying for the SNP’s mismanagement are women who have endured years of crippling agony. I urge the SNP government to offer reassurances to affected women that they will continue to get the treatment they need.”

Dame Jackie Baillie at The Sunday Post's loneliness campaign event. — Dame Jackie Baillie.

Early years care, breastfeeding and young patient family funds face almost £3m cuts. Despite progress being made on getting the nation healthy through better diet and active lifestyle choices, services to help people focus on their physical health and weight will lose £1.2m.

Last year health boards received extra help with seasonal pressures over winter to cope with patient surge.

But this year the Scottish government have cut almost £9m from “health emergency contingent budgets”.

A further £2.3m will be cut from other projects, including Sport Scotland.

NHS in ‘permanent crisis’

Last week Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of doctors’ trade body BMA Scotland and a GP with NHS Highland, described the NHS as being in “permanent crisis”.

“The reason we are in permanent crisis is that the capacity within the NHS in Scotland does not meet the demand.

“My members and other healthcare workers beyond doctors are feeling that on a day-to-day basis, we are constantly having to apologise to patients, primarily around the difficulty in accessing general practice and waits for hospital appointments.”

As well as more than 3,000 nursing and midwifery vacancies, there were nearly 460 unfilled consultancy roles across the medical and dental professions going into the autumn, along with more than 650 allied health professional vacancies such as physiotherapists and podiatrists.

The Scottish Government said: “There will be no impact on surgical activity for women experiencing mesh complications as a result of the alterations set out to contingency budgets. All surgery which has been arranged through the contracts with independent providers will be fully funded by the Scottish Government, and those contracts have recently been renewed for a further year.

“We have taken action to improve health services for women affected by this condition. This includes establishing a specialist NHS mesh service, putting in place funded independent provider options to allow women a choice of who performs their surgery, and reimbursing women who had previously paid for mesh removal surgery.

“It is wrong to say that this funding is being cut from health and social care.”