Health Consumers Queensland continues to support consumer co-design in the development of a statewide, multidisciplinary service for mesh affected Queensland women. If you haven’t already, please sign up to Queensland Health’s email contact list, to be advised on how to access the clinic when it opens:
In addition to this work, we are co-hosting a national forum with our equivalent organisations around the country, with funding assistance from several state health departments including Queensland Health.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS – A NATIONAL FORUM ON THE IMPACT OF MESH IMPLANTS
Proudly convened by the Health Issues Centre and Health Consumers NSW, Health Consumers Queensland, Health Consumers’ Council (WA), Health Consumers Alliance of South Australia, Health Care Consumers (ACT), Health Consumers Tasmania.
- 9am-5pm
- Friday April 5, 2019
- Citadines on Bourke, Melbourne
Register to attend here: http://tiny.cc/eventbritemeshforum
With the conclusion of the Senate Inquiry into transvaginal mesh and the subsequent response by the Federal Government, many among the general public assume that the tragedy of the mesh crisis has been addressed and future injury averted.
Thousands of mesh injured women would disagree and the emerging crisis of injury related to hernia mesh suggests the worst may still be ahead. The National Forum on Mesh Implants is the opportunity for those who have been affected by mesh to have their collective voices heard and their concerns finally addressed.
The National Mesh Implant Forum is our opportunity to address the unfinished business of mesh.
Pelvic and hernia mesh-injured consumers and carers will have the chance to meet face-to-face with the TGA (Australia’s medical device regulator), health authorities from each state, policy advisors and clinicians across a broad range of relevant disciplines and to thrash out solutions to this ongoing crisis.
The forum will be held just weeks before a likely Federal election in May and provides a real opportunity to influence the health policies of all major parties and independents. With the right people in the room, this forum is a unique, national opportunity to bring about real change.
The event will include a series of concurrent, targeted workshops on harm prevention and treatment, device regulation informed consent and building a unified community response.
The forum, will strive for four major outcomes.
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Post-operation treatment pathways
State health departments are at different stages of designing and implementing treatment pathways for mesh-affected consumers. Consumers will work alongside health officials at the forum, to compare state responses with a view to developing best-practice guidelines and to ensuring that treatment pathways consider not only the clinical impact of mesh but the economic and social costs.
Outcome: Co-designed national best practice guidelines for post-operative treatment and care.
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Regulation and policy
Six months after the Federal Government’s response to the Senate Inquiry, the forum will evaluate progress. The workshop will also look more broadly at the systemic failures that enabled the mesh crisis to persist undetected for almost two decades. This includes device regulation, registration, adverse event reporting, credentialing, complaints processing, product withdrawal and regulation of device manufacturers.
Outcome: Scorecard on the Government’s response to the Senate Inquiry and a blueprint for reform.
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Informed consent
75% of mesh injured consumers believe they were not informed of the potential risk of adverse outcomes and may have made different decisions had they been. The workshop will consider decision making tools could better enable informed consent based on a full disclosure of risks, benefits and options.
Outcome: to create a new, national standard on informed consent.
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A unified community response
Pelvic and hernia mesh injured consumers and carers will come together at this workshop to consider affiliation between various mesh bodies and define relationships between states and federal jurisdictions.
Outcome: Creation of a unified response to the mesh crisis and the needs of mesh impacted consumers
Limited funding assistance is available for interstate attendees (including women from Queensland).
We are hoping to support as many people as we can, so if for example you can stay with friends, please consider this when applying for your costs. We may come back to you if you’re successful to see if you can contribute a little towards your costs so we can spread the budget as far as possible. Please also bear in mind that we will be looking for a representative group of consumers (and carers) across states, demographics and type of mesh.
You can click on this link to submit an Expression of Interest for travel assistance by Monday 11th March, 2019
(submit your application by 9am Perth time / 11am Brisbane time / 11.30am Adelaide time / midday Sydney time):
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EOIMeshForumTravel
Please note that an application for travel assistance does not guarantee success.
You will still need to register to attend the forum now, in order to secure your place (places are limited): http://tiny.cc/eventbritemeshforum
If you have any questions, refer to the FAQs for additional information. Or you can call myself (details below). Or Health Issues Centre (our equivalent organisation in Victoria who are coordinating the event) on 08 9221 3422 or info@hconc.org.au