Common purpose / Safety systems
Medicines and devices
Harm from mesh, valproate, controlled drugs and insulin sits alongside weak product regulation, poor consent, and registries that were recommended long before they existed.
10 reviews · 13 recommendations
Reviews, most recent first
- 2026Thirlwall Inquiry
Lady Justice Thirlwall
- 2025Dash review of the safety landscape
Dr Penny Dash
- 2024Cass review
Dr Hilary Cass
- 2024Hughes report
Dr Henrietta Hughes
- 2024Infected Blood Inquiry
Sir Brian Langstaff
- 2020Cumberlege review
Baroness Cumberlege
- 2018Gosport
Bishop James Jones
- 2015Penrose Inquiry
The Rt Hon Lord Penrose
- 2005Shipman Inquiry
Dame Janet Smith
- 1994Clothier (Allitt)
Sir Cecil Clothier
What they asked for
Restrict and record access to insulin, and make national guidance on investigating hypoglycaemia mandatory.
NHS trusts
Move the Patient Safety Commissioner's medicines role to the MHRA, and wider patient-experience work into DHSC.
DHSC
Restrict puberty-suppressing hormones to research settings until the evidence is stronger.
NHS England
Set up a financial redress scheme for pelvic mesh and for sodium valproate in pregnancy.
Government
Provide non-financial support, including specialist services and help with accessing records.
NHS
Pay compensation through a scheme that is independent and prompt.
UK government
Create an independent redress agency.
Government
Build registries for devices and a clearer record of conflicts of interest and industry payments.
MHRA and NHS
Reform the MHRA so that it looks harder for harm after a product is in use, with patients in the work.
MHRA
Govern controlled drugs so that one clinician's practice cannot drift without being seen.
NHS trusts
Test those who may have been infected and offer them care.
NHS Scotland
The question of proper compensation was left for the later UK inquiry.
Government
Tighten the governance of controlled drugs.
Government and NHS
