Patient safety commissioner to approach PM over ‘disappointing’ delay to valproate compensation

Henrietta Hughes, patient safety commissioner for England, has said she will approach prime minister Keir Starmer directly to secure financial compensation for people affected by valproate, after the government provided no timetable on redress decisions.

In a statement published on 2 February 2026, Hughes said: “I will now be approaching Number 10 directly, using the power to request information under the 2021 Medicines and Medical Devices Act, if required.

“This is very much unfinished business and I will not stop holding government to account until this is resolved for the patients and families harmed.”

‘The Hughes report‘, published in February 2024, called on the government to set up a two-stage redress scheme, including a possible £100,000 payment for each patient harmed as a result of valproate use, followed by a main scheme payout, based on the individual needs of each patient.

In response to a written question submitted to the Department of Health and Social Care by Bob Blackman, Conservative MP for Harrow East, on 27 January 2026 about whether the government could publish a timetable for delivery of the redress, health minister Zubir Ahmed said the government is considering Hughes’ recommendations.

“This is a complex, cross-government policy area involving multiple organisations,” he said.

“As set out in the Hughes report, the government is carefully considering the patient safety commissioner’s recommendations, including the proposed approaches to redress for those harmed by sodium valproate.

“This work requires coordinated input from several departments, and we will provide a further update in due course.”

In her statement, Hughes said: “What is starkly absent from this update is any commitment to a timetable for action. Nearly two years after publishing my report, patients are still waiting for action and financial redress. Patients’ lives don’t grind to a halt while government departments debate jurisdiction and timelines.

“I am grateful for the minister’s personal commitment and the progress on non-financial aspects. But the reality remains that the Department of Health and Social Care does not have the agency to deliver financial compensation. That authority sits with the Treasury and Number 10,” she added.

Unborn babies exposed to sodium valproate are at risk of developing foetal valproate spectrum disorder, which is the collective name for the variety of disorders and development issues some children experience after being exposed to the drug in the womb​, where the most severe cases are linked with fatalities.

The Epilepsy Society has estimated that there are approximately 20,000 people affected by foetal valproate spectrum disorder in the UK.

Commenting on the patient safety commissioner’s statement, Janet Williams and Emma Murphy, founders of the Independent Fetal Anti-Convulsant Trust (INFACT), who are both mothers to children affected by foetal valproate syndrome, said they were “utterly disappointed” in the government.

“Last week, while in Westminster, we met with the patient safety commissioner, who, like INFACT, expressed deep concern at the unacceptable length of time the government is taking to respond to this urgent issue,” they added.

They said they had also spoken briefly to Ahmed, “who gave the clear impression that the Department of Health is only able to progress non-financial forms of redress and that any financial compensation would need to be authorised by the Treasury and Number 10”.

“We are utterly disappointed that the government has once again failed these families — families who have been fighting since the early 1990s for recognition and compensation for the harm caused to their children,” they said.

Alison Fuller, director of health improvement and influencing, at Epilepsy Action said: “When the Patient Safety Commissioner feels she has no choice but to go directly to number 10 it shows just how important and desperate the  situation has become for families.   

“Nearly two years on from  the Hughes Report, and those affected by sodium valproate are still waiting to hear when action will actually happen. For people living with the lifelong consequences of harm, every month of silence matters. ”

In September 2025, the campaigners wrote to Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves over the government’s “continued silence” over redress, with the patient safety commissioner echoing their concerns.