Campaigners from across the UK delivered a formal letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday, calling for urgent action on a compensation scheme for thousands of women harmed by the controversial procedure.

Kath Sansom (Image: Supplied)

The action was timed to coincide with International Women’s Day and follows an event in Parliament hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group for First Do No Harm, chaired by Sarah Green MP.

Among those leading the campaign for justice is Kath Sansom, a former reporter with the Eastern Daily Press, who founded the patient group Sling The Mesh after women came forward describing life-changing injuries linked to the implants.

The EDP has previously highlighted the stories of women whose lives have been blighted by the treatment, with many saying they have felt ignored and dismissed for years.

Last month this newspaper shared the heart-breaking story of mum-of-three Rebecca Raisbeck, who described how pelvic mesh complications left her living in constant pain and struggling with the devastating impact on her health and family life.

Rebecca Raisbeck (Image: Suppplied)

Mrs Raisbeck said the procedure had left her feeling as though her life had been “turned upside down”, with ongoing symptoms affecting everything from her ability to work to simple day-to-day activities.

Her story is one of thousands.

Pelvic mesh was widely used across the NHS to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, conditions which can affect women after childbirth or later in life.

But thousands later reported severe complications including chronic pain, nerve damage, infection, autoimmune symptoms and loss of mobility.

Some women have been left unable to work, forcing them to give up careers and lose pensions and savings, while others say they have endured profound psychological trauma after years of debilitating symptoms.

Despite years of patient testimony and mounting medical evidence, campaigners say justice remains out of reach.

The scale of the issue was laid bare in the landmark First Do No Harm report by Baroness Cumberlege, which concluded that women had been “disbelieved, dismissed and ignored” when they raised concerns about complications linked to the plastic inserts.

The report called for sweeping changes to patient safety and recommended the creation of a system of redress for those harmed.

In 2024, Patient Safety Commissioner Dr Henrietta Hughes published the Hughes Report, setting out how a government-backed compensation scheme for women affected by pelvic mesh, as well as families impacted by other medical scandals, could be delivered.

But two years later campaigners say there has still been no commitment from government to introduce financial redress.

Campaigner and former EDP journalist Kath Sansom (Image: Supplied)

Sarah Green MP, vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on First Do No Harm said the women involved in the campaign had shown “extraordinary strength and resilience”.

“This International Women’s Day, I am proud to be surrounded by women who embody such strength and resilience from all that they have endured,” she said.

“While full of pride and admiration at their ability to turn their trauma into strength and their pain into fight, I also share their rage because our system has let women down time and time again and not heard their voices.

“A plan for change has already been formulated thanks to Baroness Cumberlege. It is now up to us to deliver those recommendations.”

She added that while systemic reform of patient safety would take time, the issue of compensation should be straightforward.

“Excuses no longer hold; it is now morally incumbent upon the government to act,” she said.

Ms Sansom, herself a victim, said many women had lost their health, independence and financial security because of the implants.

“Pelvic mesh has stolen women’s health, irreversibly ruined their quality of life, their independence and their future,” she said.

“On International Women’s Day we are standing at the heart of our democracy to say clearly: women deserve justice, and we deserve it now.

“We must not be fobbed off with platitudes, delays or excuses. These are innocent patients caught up in a medical scandal that has caused lifelong physical, mental and financial harm.”

Campaigners say thousands of women across the UK are still living with the consequences of the implants, often without adequate medical support.

For many, the campaign is about recognition as much as financial redress.

For years, they say, their symptoms were dismissed or minimised – a pattern that has become central to the wider debate about how women’s health concerns are treated within the healthcare system.

They argue the pelvic mesh scandal exposes a systemic failure to listen to women about their health and the devastating consequences that can follow.

Campaigners say they will continue pressing for action until the government sets a clear timetable for a properly funded compensation scheme for all women harmed by pelvic mesh.

For women like Rebecca Raisbeck and thousands of others across the country, justice cannot come soon enough.

© Eastern Daily Press