Government response to the recommendations of the First Do No Harm report

That this House notes the Government’s response to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm; notes with disappointment its failure to implement all nine recommendations in full; further notes that the creation of a new independent Redress Agency for people harmed by medicines and medical devices has been refused outright and that, despite the clear findings of the Report, there is no offer of compensation for any of the victims or their families; notes that the recommended mandatory reporting of all financial and non-pecuniary interests and relevant payments involving healthcare professionals is proposed not on a single database as recommended, but dispersed on individual employer’s websites; notes with concern calls from the pharmaceutical industry for the Secretary of State to use the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 to mandate rapid timelines for regulatory approvals in the face of the Report’s findings of the suppression of negative research and outcomes, and the silencing of patient voices; notes the lack of commitment to mandatory reporting, underpinned by legislation, of all payments made to teaching hospitals, research institutions and individual clinicians by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries; and calls on the Government to reconsider its response and to implement all nine recommendations in their entirety and to ensure patient safety remains paramount in any changes to regulatory approval frameworks.