Women tell SA inquiry the pelvic mesh clinic is a ‘joke’, with average wait times of 179 days
Women have told an inquiry the state’s only pelvic mesh clinic is a “joke”, with some waiting up to eight months to see a specialist.
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South Australian women implanted with painful plastic mesh are waiting up to eight months to access the state’s only mesh injury clinic, The Advertiser can reveal.
Central Adelaide Local Health Network head of unit gynaecology Dr Roy Watson yesterday confirmed SA women, depending on the severity of the case, were waiting up to eight months to access the Pelvic Mesh Clinic.
Dr Watson said the Pelvic Mesh Clinic, at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, was open fortnightly to three new patients.
The clinic was yesterday heavily criticised by women adversely affected by pelvic mesh presenting evidence at the first day of the Surgical Implantation of Medical Mesh in SA Inquiry.
The inquiry heard the clinic was not easily accessible and did not have a surgeon qualified to perform full pelvic mesh removal, forcing women to suffer in pain or travel interstate at their own expense.
“The pelvic mesh clinic is a joke,” Alicia told the state parliamentary inquiry.
“The average wait time from referral to first appointment is 179 days,” said Alicia, a woman from regional SA implanted with pelvic mesh in 2011. “This is a major concern and is simply not good enough,” she said.
Mother of two Tracey, who did not want to be named, said she waited eight months to see a specialist at the clinic last year to be told she would have to wait for full pelvic mesh removal as there was no-one qualified in SA to do the surgery.
She said she would either have to travel interstate to have the surgery or wait until a surgeon capable of removing the mesh fully was employed in SA.
“My pelvis regularly feels like it is being crushed and breaking in two,” Tracey told the inquiry.
She was inserted with pelvic mesh in 2006. She was 30 years old.
Penny told the inquiry: “Pelvic mesh has become a nightmare, not the easy fix I was told it would be... It has changed my life in a major way. Had I known the potential damage it causes, I would have run for the hills.
“I can’t have this mesh removed from me because no surgeon in SA is able to perform full removal surgery. I can’t afford to travel interstate to see a private surgeon and the mesh clinic has been of no help in assisting me to have a full removal in a public hospital interstate even though they have admitted that I require a full removal.”
Dr Watson said the clinic had seen 107 women since opening more than a year ago and was actively recruiting a specialist to undertake full mesh removal.
But he warned that the procedure could not guarantee complete removal, might not resolve symptoms or improve quality of life and might make things worse.
Pelvic mesh has been used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary stress incontinence among women since 1998. It’s made of plastic polypropylene and has been linked to ongoing, life-altering complications in Australia and overseas.
The same material used in pelvic mesh is used in meshes to treat hernia and in breast and rectal surgeries.
The SA inquiry, initiated by Labor MP Dana Wortley through the Social Development Committee, will consider how many South Australians have been affected by medical mesh and the benefits of establishing an SA register of mesh implant recipients.
Ms Wortley said mesh-injured women were concerned by the mesh clinic’s monthly operation due to the need for multiple appointments with an array of different specialists because of the multiple complications associated with mesh.
“This is difficult for some who have debilitating pain, and even more so, for those who must make the journey from regional South Australia,” Ms Wortley said.
Julia Overton, chief executive of the Health Consumers Alliance of SA Inc., said more could be done to better support SA women and men already affected by medical mesh and ensure those implanted in the future are fully informed of the actual risks.
The next inquiry hearing is planned for March 2.