My Lords, I have Amendment 288 in this group. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for the way that he has introduced this group of amendments; he is quite right that there is a lot of synergy between them.
Before I get to my subject, as it were, I will address litigation. We have been working very hard with NHS England and others to introduce the rapid resolution and redress system—RRR—for maternity services. The damage done to babies costs a huge amount of money. It is very rare, but some of the settlements are now over £10 million per baby, so this issue really needs to be addressed. The noble Lord is right that, when litigation comes in with force, it causes enormous trouble and heartache for those involved in it. We know that, when it is based on clinical negligence, the trouble is that the learning disappears or is suffocated. If we had a system that gave rapid redress and resolution, we would learn so much more from the cases that come to court.
Amendment 288 requires the Secretary of State to bring forward proposals for a redress scheme to help those who have suffered avoidable harm linked to the three medical interventions that were examined in my Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review: hormone pregnancy tests—the most common of which is Primodos—the epilepsy drug sodium valproate and pelvic mesh, which is used to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
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I believe that the test of a good and decent society is how it looks after and takes responsibility for those who, through no fault of their own, have suffered and had their lives changed for the worse or completely ruined. A society that turns its back on those people and refuses to listen or help is surely not what we would wish.
I am not speaking about a handful of people. Many thousands have suffered avoidable harm linked to the three products that I mentioned. They have been living with the terrible consequences for years, in some cases decades. The suffering does not go away or get better. All three have caused and are causing avoidable psychological harm. Mesh has undoubtedly caused appalling physical harm. Sodium valproate has caused physical and neurodevelopmental harm. Only last week, the First Do No Harm All-Party Parliamentary Group, which I co-chair with Jeremy Hunt, held a meeting with people affected by mesh, valproate and Primodos about the damaged lives that they and others are having to lead and the kind of help or support that they need but do not receive. Their stories are heartbreaking today and they will be as the years go on, because this does not get any better.
As well as children, we are talking mainly about women, who have been harmed by mesh, many in the prime of life—young, active, healthy, successful women,
who have had their lives turned upside down and devastated by this product that was implanted in them. They were not told of the risks, but now there is no escape from constant piercing pain. They have restricted mobility. They cannot travel, play with their children or work and their lives have disintegrated.
Women took sodium valproate when pregnant to control their epilepsy unaware that there is a one in two chance of having a damaged baby, born with physical abnormalities and cognitive problems. Many require constant care and will do so for the rest of their lives. These women face the double whammy of suffering the crippling effects of epilepsy while having to look after their disabled children.
Women who took a hormone pregnancy test back in the 1960s and 1970s and went on to have damaged babies are now becoming elderly and for decades have been left with the anguish and constant guilt that it was their fault, even though it was not. As they grow older, they have to care for their adult children, many of whom are dependent on them.
Many of these women and their families receive little or no formal help. Their needs are not adequately met by the healthcare system, the social care system or the benefits system. It would be a scandal—a disgrace—if they lived their lives unable to accept the redress that they deserve.
In the case of these three interventions, there is a moral and ethical responsibility to provide ex gratia payments for the avoidable damage that has occurred. The new clause that I am proposing would provide discretionary payments and each of the three schemes would have tailored eligibility criteria. I do not believe that Ministers need to be concerned by the potential cost of these schemes, because I am not talking about a blank cheque. The schemes can be cash-limited funds. Some of the needs that people have are not costly to meet and, if the funds run out, the Government would then have to decide whether to top them up. They can base that decision on the extent of unmet need at that time.
Payments that the scheme made would not be intended to cover the cost of services already available free of charge, such as healthcare and social security payments. They would be for other needs, the kinds of needs that we heard about at our all-party group last week—for example, the cost of travel to medical appointments, which for many of the people we met is a significant cost burden, or mobility aids, respite breaks, home help or emergency payments where a parent has had to stop work in order to cover the care that is needed. These redress schemes are not in place of litigation nor will they be there to deliver compensation. People should retain the right to take legal action to obtain compensation if they wish.
These people have suffered for years, in some case for decades. They have tried to obtain compensation through the courts. That is time-consuming, costly and very stressful and it has not worked, because the necessary public funding, which was originally promised, was later withdrawn before the court case was decided.
I said that a measure of a decent society is how well it looks after those who have suffered harm, especially where that harm has been avoidable. Having met many hundreds of people who have suffered and having heard from many more, I am clear that help is needed and deserved. People should not be made to wait any longer. I know that my colleagues on the Front Bench are compassionate people. I have met my noble friend Lord Kamall and others. I thank them for their precious time and I know that these issues are understood. On behalf of all those suffering now, I ask my noble friend to consider further and to seek a way by which a responsible Government can alleviate the suffering that has ruined so many lives.