This morning, Baroness Cumberlege led a virtual event to launch the All-Party Parliamentary Group for First Do No Harm, in which she introduced the Group, restated the case for the implementation of the recommendations in First Do No Harm and provided an update on recent developments regarding the Review’s recommendations.
The text of her remarks can be accessed here – this text should be checked against delivery.
On Wednesday, 16th December at 10:30 the APPG held a formal, virtual launch via Zoom. Baroness Cumberlege provided an update on the Group’s activity and answered questions from attendees. A note of the meeting is available here.
16, November 2020: Baroness Cumberlege and Jeremy Hunt MP have today launched an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to raise awareness of and build support for the recommendations in First Do No Harm, the landmark report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review.
The publication of First Do No Harm in July 2020marked the culmination of a Review that, over two years, heard harrowing patient testimony and received a large volume of other evidence concerning three medical interventions: Primodos, sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. The IMMDS Review was Chaired by Baroness Cumberlege and commissioned by Jeremy Hunt MP in February 2018, during his tenure as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
First Do No Harm set out nine major recommendations to bring much-needed help and support to those who have suffered as a result of these interventions, and to reduce the risk of avoidable harm from medicines and medical devices in the future. There is a widespread consensus in favour of its recommendations, among all the patient groups concerned with the issues and among royal colleges, professional bodies, public institutions and others.
The APPG for First Do No Harm (APPGFDNH) will campaign to raise awareness of and build support for the implementation of the nine recommendations, eight of which remain outstanding after fulsome apologies were given by the Secretary of State for Health and Minister for Patient Safety on the day First Do No Harm was published.
Positive discussions have been had with the Government on the need for a Patient Safety Commissioner for England, which it has now accepted and intends to bring forward as an amendment to the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill at the Report Stage. APPGFDNH is encouraged by this progress and will work to ensure the Commissioner is truly independent.
Baroness Cumberlege, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for First Do No Harm, said:
“While it is welcome that the Government has so far addressed one of the nine recommendations, when First Do No Harm was published in July we had hoped that more progress would have been made by now. We understand that its recommendations were indeed wide-ranging , but the scale of the suffering the Review observed over its two years of work means that nothing short of profound change is urgently required.
“The Government has the power to harness the consensus in favour of the report’s recommendations and deliver change for those patients affected by the issues the Review examined, as well as for future patients. Members of the newly-constituted APPG for First Do No Harm will be the first to express our gratitude when they do.”
The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for First Do No Harm, said:
“When I commissioned the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review in 2018 it was already clear that our healthcare system was still too closed, defensive and focused on blame rather than learning lessons.
“The case for change has been powerfully made in First Do No Harm. There is literally nothing more tragic than a death or disability that didn’t need to happen, so the recommendations are a matter of great urgency to ensure other families are spared similar heartache. This APPG will work relentlessly to make sure this seminal report is implemented in full and without delay: lessons must be learnt once and for all.”
The Group’s officers include parliamentarians with a track record of campaigning for patient safety, as well as the Chairs of the APPGs on the interventions covered by the IMMDS Review: Emma Hardy MP, APPG on Surgical Mesh; Cat Smith MP, APPG for Valproate and other Anti-Epileptic Drugs in Pregnancy; and Yasmin Qureshi MP, APPG on Hormone Pregnancy Tests. Its full list of offices is as follows:
The Group was constituted in September and has been registered with the parliamentary authorities. It will announce its programme of activity in due course. The Minister for Patient Safety, Nadine Dorries MP, has been invited to the Group’s first public meeting to provide an update on the Government’s thought process and activity since the report’s publication, and to share her insight regarding next steps.
The IMMDS Review’s major recommendations include:
ENDS
For more information visit the Group’s website at FirstDoNoHarmAPPG.org.uk or contact the Secretariat on 02076189189, 07947477460 or fdnh@luther.co.uk.