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Parliamentary Committees and Public Enquiries
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Health Committee launches web forum on PIP breast implants
The Health Committee yesterday launched an online forum for women affected by PIP breast implants to give their views on the treatment they have received from private clinics or the NHS following the emergence of information about risks associated with PIP implants.
Commenting on this initiative, Committee Chair Stephen Dorrell MP said,
"We are keen to hear about the experiences of women who have PIP breast implants provided by private clinics or the NHS. There is very little first-hand information about the scale of the problem posed by PIP implants or how well it is being tackled.
We are monitoring how the NHS is performing its undertakings to remove failed implants, and what private providers are doing to replace PIP implants which are causing concern.
We encourage women to use this forum to give their personal experiences of implant surgery from a private provider or the NHS, and how far their particular concerns about their own implants have been addressed where they have sought to raise them."
Further Information
- The forum on PIP breast implants will run until 31 May 2012
- It is estimated that over 40,000 women have received PIP breast implants provided by private clinics or the NHS. The Committee invites all such women to participate in the web forum to give their personal views of their experiences with the implants and their care both before and after the revelations about the safety of PIP implants.
- Registered users of the forum will be able to post messages without identifying themselves. The forum will be pre-moderated to ensure no potentially defamatory comments are made and no private information about named individuals is revealed.
- The Committee expects that the information it will gather through the forum will indicate how the PIP issue is affecting women and how the issue is being handled by the NHS and private clinics nationwide.
- The Government has set up two reviews: one, led by the Health Minister Earl Howe, which will examine what has happened in the UK in relation to PIP implants; and another, led by the NHS Medical Director, Sir Bruce Keogh, which will look at the wider issues of clinical safety and regulation. The Health Committee will consider the reports of both reviews: the evidence from the web forum will be instrumental in this consideration.
