To not understand why the NHS is picking up the bill for mistakes made with boob jobs?

[Hammy02]

Surely this is like buying something at ASDA and expecting to take it back to Sainsburys? It doesn't work like that. You bought something privately, it didn't work out... you take them to court?

YABU

thought they were only helping people who had their original op on the NHS?

have I missed an update?

the nhs ends up picking up the tab for any botched private medicine. presumably its cheaper for them to pay to sort it now, rather than wait for emergency health issues to develop which would cost lots more to rectify.

They are helping people who had their ops on the NHS. If the private hospitals refuse to help the others then the NHS will do it but the private hospitals will be 'named and shamed'.

ps i do realise that cosmetic boob jobs arent medicine

The NHS will, I'm sure, help women with problems. They want to make sure though that women go to their private providers in the first instance. Seems fair enough to me.

Actually it's more like going to Asda and purchasing some beef that a government body has approved as fit for consumption then expecting treatment for BSE from the NHS.

They arent picking up the bill, they are only resolving the issues with ones they have put in, they will only remove the ones put in by private health care providers if they dont do something, and then they will not replace them.

Thats good enough for me, no replacements, flat tits, serves them right for being so vain to start with.

Actually it's more like going to Harrods and purchasing some beef that a government body has approved as fit for consumption then expecting treatment for BSE from the NHS.

Yabu.

The cost and consequence of sorting out the mess after an actual rupture will be a lot higher. Many of the women who has received implants on the nhs will have had enough to worry about to also worry about this now.

all heart and kindness as usual there Fabby...

but if you have had it done for pure "vanity" reason and not reconstructive, why should the NHS pick up the bill?
Or am I misunderstanding this and they just want them removed and then will pay privately for replacements

I'm glad the NHS is there for women who face possible health problems because of these implants. The NHS picks up the tab for very many other unfathomably stupid things that we buy to the detriment of our health and to the benefit of sellers' pockets - excessive alcohol, cigarettes, junk food.

I really hope, though, that the govt means it when it says it will name and shame private health providers pushers, and force them to pay the NHS for removals that they should undertake themselves.

The NHS will just remove them. But the way I understand it, they are asking private patients to contact the clinics who sold them the substandard implants.

Agreed, Catalie, I do hope the government can do something to recover costs from Transform and other rip-off clinics that are trying to charge women for removing the shittty, crappy, rubbish implants they put in in the first place. How dare they insist on charging £2,800 to take out something that included 'industrial grade' silicon, rather than medical grade? They should be offering profuse apologies and compensation and handing over the data about failure rates. And the directors should be offering to resign.

The NHS are funding it because the government passed the implants as safe, when they clearly hadn't done enough research and testing.
The PIP implants should not have been passed in the first place in this country, therefore the NHS is paying for the mistake.

OK, but if you have ever... taken drugs, drunk alcohol, done an extreme sport, gained weight, lost weight, driven over the speed limit, not taken your meds as told, missed a scan/check-up/smear, smoked, eaten food past it's best before, had unprotected sex, not exercised regularly, exercised too much, run across the road etc. etc. etc. don't expect me to pay for you. Or, we all just accept that we all deserve a little leeway and feel some bloody compassion.

ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets thanks I missed that.
still bad imo as it will take money from elsewhere, I hope as has been said they can recoup the money from the bad companies(doubt it though)

... and if you have ever given birth and contracted a hospital infection, such as strep b....

Are implant threads the new 'MIL threads' now?

I might get two MILs with huge heads implanted under my skin

Just to help condense the front page

As I understood it they will only remove PIP implants and not replace them. Fair enough if that's the case.

I would only have an issue id replacements were free, because they need to be replaced after 10 to 15 years anyway so the person should have factored in the cost of that already.

YANBU. I can understand why they are agreeing to do it either. It will raise waiting list times for people who need other operations, and it is a drain on resources that should be used for sick people.

I have no problem with people with these implants being treated on the NHS if a problem actually occurs, but as long as they are not actually ill, they should have to go back to the original surgeon or not have them removed. It is wrong that people who are basically just oing to be worried well will affect the waiting times for people who never had a choice about needing an operation.

Icantuck - it's not that there wasn't enough testing, it's that PIP deliberately used cheap industrial grade silicon instead of medical grade. That's fraud. I'm not sure the MRHA actually tests medical devices - I think (but await correction from someone with more up to date knowledge) they rely on statements from the manufacturer about what the device actually consists of. And it's not just a UK decision - devices (as far as I recall) are approved at EU level. I'm not sure the UK government would be able to stop private surgeons using a device that was approved by the EU. But it's been a while since I had to know anything about the details here, I could be way out of date.

People have been saying medical devices will be the next big scandal for a while now, regulations are laughable compared to the stringent requirements for drug safety.