‘We faced a wall of denial ... now we need action’: Vaginal mesh campaigner

Jackie Harvey, 52, from Banbridge, had a mesh implant fitted in 2005 for stress urinary incontinence following childbirth.

The mum of two said: “For many years I was fine, I was 36-years-old when I had it put in. After six or seven years I started getting chronic pain.

“I had trouble walking, my legs were very painful. I went through a variety of tests from 2013 onwards and nobody could find out what the problem was.”

Eventually Jackie, who runs the Northern Ireland branch of support group Sling the Mesh, which has 570 local members, said she was in “so much pain and misery” that she decided to pay £7,500 to have the mesh removed privately in England.

“It’s a decision I don’t regret. I am a lot better than I was, but I have permanent problems with my legs and hips. You are never back to the person you were before.”

Baroness Julia Cumberlege, chair of the review, which was published earlier this week, said she was shocked by the “sheer scale”and “intensity of suffering” of women with mesh implants.

Jackie, a former civil servant, who was medically retired at 51 due to her health issues, said she was “delighted” with the result of the review.

“Baroness Cumberlege has published nine recommendations which we would like implemented in NI as soon as possible.

“We have faced a wall of denial and been fobbed off for years. We need action.

“We want our own patient safety commissioner for all patients in Northern Ireland. We want to ensure that mesh is only used as a very last resort.

“Too many women have been hurt by it and we don’t want future women, our daughters, to be damaged by this stuff.

“We want a specialist centre to be up to standard with surgeons who excel at what they are doing in relation to mesh complications.”

She said she would like to see redress, but compensation is “not the main thing”.

“NO money will replace broken lives. A lot of women have lost their jobs over this, have lost their marriages, and there are women who have lost parts of their bodies.”