PIP Breast Implants Ireland: Latest Update – Official Confirmation on The Hospital Group

Official Confirmation that Patients of The Hospital Group Received PIP Breast Implants

I reported in our blog post of 20 January that we have been receiving calls from women who have been contacted by cosmetic surgery providers not named in the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) statement informing them that they did in fact receive PIP breast implants.

The IMB, after 5 days, has responded to my query on the matter confirming what had been reported by several women who have contacted us, namely that women who organised their breast augmentation surgery through The Hospital Group did indeed receive PIP breast implants in many cases.

Why was The Hospital Group not mentioned in the IMB statement of 22 December or subsequent statements up to and including the latest dated 6 January? The following extract from their e-mail reply to our enquiry explains:

“In relation to your query regarding PIP implants and The Hospital Group.

The IMB has been in communication with The Hospital Group in relation to this matter. From the information provided to the IMB, all patients of The Hospital Group which received PIP implants did so in the Shandon Clinic in Cork or in the UK.

We believe that this is reflected in the information currently on the IMB website. The IMB’s position as outlined on our website is unchanged since the 6th January.

The website will be updated as required.”

Our clients who arranged their surgery through The Hospital Group do indeed report having been sent to Cork or the UK for the surgery but, understandably, only a minority of them could recall the address of the clinic in which they were operated on asin most cases several years have passed since the procedure.

The reluctance of the IMB to specifically name The Hospital Group in their statement is difficult to understand when they have confirmed that Hospital Group patients received PIP breast implants.

The Hospital Group, to their credit, have been contacting their former patients and informing them that PIP breast implants were used in their augmentation procedures. This is how each of our clients learned that they received PIP breast implants. However, patients whose contact details have changed in the period following their operations will not have received these communications and upon reading the IMB statements might well be lulled into thinking that they have nothing to worry about.

We have also received a small number of enquiries from women who had breast augmentation procedures organised through Advanced Cosmetic Surgery Limited, a company which has been in liquidation since 2008. Again these women do not recall the address at which their surgery was performed, merely the company they organised it through.

Advanced Cosmetic Surgery Limited is not named in the IMB statement either and we will again have to seek clarification from the IMB to establish if these women may have received PIP breast implants from another company that remains unnamed in their statements to date. We have also sought the medical records of the individuals concerned from the liquidators but this is likely to take some time.

Surely a clear statement from the IMB clarifying precisely which providers of breast augmentation surgery may have used PIP breast implants is necessary, whether direct providers or companies who subcontracted out the surgical aspects of the process, so that any woman potentially affected can take appropriate steps to ensure their health is not adversely affected.

This is particularly true when the Shandon Street Hospital, the clinic at the centre of this particular misunderstanding, is:

(a) gone into liquidation and not contacting any former patients, and

(b) also a former provider of implant surgery trading under its own business name, which is the main reason for the confusion.

The IMB’s minimalist approach in identifying the cosmetic surgery providers implicated in this scandal is indeed regrettable. One would have hoped that a tougher line would be taken with these companies, particularly bearing in mind the manner in which the Harley Medical Group played ducks and drakes with the IMB on the issue of notifying women affected by the recall.

We will be posting exclusive information on this unfolding situation as we become aware of it.  If you found this post useful or interesting, you might like to subscribe to our mailing list below to ensure that you don’t miss any important updates.