This parliamentary question by Denis MacShane to Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary on this very topical issue raises some very important points:
“Denis MacShane (Rotherham, Labour)
Will the Secretary of State send officials to investigate the Birkdale clinic in Rotherham and its executive, Mr Promod Bhatnagar? Scores of women have had PIP implants at the clinic and are now being told that they have to pay £2,900, in cash, to be screened and looked at again. Mr Bhatnagar has threatened groups in south Yorkshire with “unimaginable consequences” if they raise this issue. After his very unclear statement, will the Secretary of State finish by saying that as in every other European country, and standing with the women of Britain, taxpayers do not mind paying for a few hundred women to be properly investigated? My constituents have contacted me saying that the women of south Yorkshire should be able to go to their general practitioner, go straight into hospital and be seen to, and we should clear up all the fuss about bills afterwards.”
Andrew Lansley (Secretary of State, Health; South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I think I have been absolutely clear about what I expect to happen, in relation both to women treated through the NHS and what I expect of private providers. I have also made it clear that if private providers will not or are unable to meet that standard of care, the NHS is available to support women. It is absolutely wrong to say that we are somehow responding to women differently from other European countries, because across Europe countries affected by this are taking exactly the same view that we take. From theyworkforyou.com.
What can possibly be meant by; “Bhatnagar has threatened groups in south Yorkshire with “unimaginable consequences” if they raise this issue” Editors emphasis.
The Birkdale Clinic
Birkdale Clinic PIP implant page: http://www.birkdaleclinic.com/cosmetic-surgery/surgical-breast/pip-breast-implants/1828/
Read the letter from David Nicholson [PDF 49KB]
Read the letter from the Chief Medical Officer [PDF 53KB]
Read the PIP Breast Implants interim report
The Rotherham Advertiser: Patient slams Rotherham clinic over breast implants
London Evening Standard: Adverts to advise PIP implant women
BBC: Breast implants: Andrew Lansley calls for clinic action
In a specially arranged meeting with the European Commission, Yorkshire and Humber Euro MP, Linda McAvan, demanded changes to healthcare regulations across Europe following the breast implant scandal that has affected thousands of women in Britain, France and across the continent.
Rotherham Politics 