Category Archives: Contaminated blood scandal

‘I want justice’: man whose brothers died in infected blood scandal awaits report

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Christopher Marsh says he is determined to see the contaminated blood inquiry ‘to the end’

“I lost both my brothers through it and I want to still be here, I want to see justice, I want to see it to the end,” says Christopher Marsh of the contaminated blood scandal.

Marsh, 49, and his two brothers, Gary and Kelvin, were all infected in 1981 through imported blood products used to treat people with haemophilia. Last year he was told his hepatitis C had become chronic and, with his brothers having long since died as a result of being infected, he is determined to see the end of the infected blood inquiry, which will publish its final report on 20 May, and the official response.

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Blood scandal report must deliver more than just justice, says Andy Burnham

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Exclusive: Labour mayor argues only ‘fundamental rewiring’ of political system can prevent more ‘colossal’ state failures

The final report of the infected blood inquiry must not only deliver justice but act as a catalyst to prevent such “colossal” state failures happening again, Andy Burnham has said.

The mayor of Greater Manchester, a long-time advocate for victims of the scandal, said a “fundamental rewiring of the political system” was needed as too many people were being harmed and then waiting decades for justice.

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What is the NHS contaminated blood scandal and how did it happen?

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From 1970 to 1990s, the NHS exposed people to tainted blood through transfusions and gave infected US blood products to haemophiliacs

The final report of the infected blood inquiry will be published on 20 May, almost six years after it started. Here is the background to the scandal the inquiry was set up to investigate.

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Revealed: key files shredded as UK government panic grew over infected blood deaths lawsuit

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Lost documents prevented victims from finding out the truth, official inquiry told

Disastrous failures that caused the contaminated blood scandal were denied by ministers for decades after officials destroyed, lost and blocked access to key documents, memos submitted to the official inquiry reveal.

Several batches of files involving the work of a blood safety advisory committee were shredded as the government faced the threat of legal action, documents show. Patients who were given contaminated blood when they were children have also told the infected blood inquiry how their hospital medical files were destroyed or initially withheld.

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Infected blood scandal: victims’ families hope report will finally apportion blame

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UK government’s apologies so far have had a distinct lack of candour about what it is apologising for

Surviving victims and relatives of those who died as a result of receiving infected blood and blood products from the NHS in the 1970s and 80s will gather in a few weeks at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.

After six years of taking evidence, Sir Brian Langstaff’s public inquiry will finally unveil its report there on 20 May.

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UK swapped to fatal US blood products to save money, minutes suggest

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Exclusive: contaminated blood campaigners say internal 1976 Immuno AG document proves British government negligence

The British government was willing to risk infecting NHS patients to get “lower-priced” blood products, according to a document that campaigners claim proves state and corporate guilt in one of the country’s worst ever scandals.

A public inquiry into the deaths of an estimated 2,900 people infected with conditions such as HIV and hepatitis will publish its final report in May, four decades after the NHS started prescribing blood and blood products – including from drug users, prisoners and sex workers – sourced from the US.

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ITV announces drama on contaminated blood scandal after Post Office series success

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Peter Moffat will write show about what is considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in NHS history

ITV has announced a drama on the contaminated blood scandal, widely considered to be one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in NHS history, after the success of its series on the Post Office.

The drama, which is being written by the Bafta award-winning screenwriter Peter Moffat, will show how people with haemophilia and other blood disorders were contaminated with blood infected with HIV and Hepatitis C, the American media site Deadline reported.

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Sunak on ‘wrong side of history’ over infected blood scandal, says charity

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Chair of Haemophilia Society says government stance is ‘huge error’ and hails Commons defeat as ‘victory for democracy’

Rishi Sunak will be on the “wrong side of history” in his handling of the infected blood scandal, the head of a charity has warned, after his government suffered its first parliamentary defeat over when to compensate victims.

The scandal, now the subject of an inquiry, unfolded in the late 1970s and early 80s, after about 4,800 people with the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia were given blood donated – or sold – by people infected with HIV and hepatitis C.

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Infected blood victims and families urge UK government to drop defence

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Exclusive: Claimants say government can no longer defend treatment disaster in light of inquiry’s damning interim report

More than 500 people taking the government to court over the contaminated blood scandal are urging it to concede the case in light of evidence heard by a public inquiry and an interim report produced by its chair.

The claim, which began in 2017 but was stayed pending the inquiry into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, alleges the Department of Health – now the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – breached a duty to take reasonable care to prevent personal injury or loss, amounting to misfeasance in public office.

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Survivors of contaminated blood scandal awarded interim payments

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Ministers accepted urgency of need of those infected in 1970s and 1980s, who are dying at the rate of one every four days

Survivors of the contaminated blood scandal have been awarded interim government payments after a 40-year battle, but thousands of parents and children of the victims have still received nothing.

Ministers have accepted the urgency of the need to make the £100,000 payments to about 3,000 surviving victims, after being warned that those mistakenly infected with HIV and hepatitis C were dying at the rate of one every four days.

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Infected blood scandal: ex-pupils and relatives sue Hampshire school

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Group action alleges Treloar College failed in its duty of care for children who contracted hepatitis and HIV

A group of survivors and relatives of people who died in the infected blood scandal are suing a school where they contracted hepatitis and HIV after being given experimental treatment without informed consent.

A proposed group action lodged by Collins Solicitors in the high court on Friday alleges that Treloar College, a boarding school in Hampshire that specialised in teaching haemophiliacs, failed in its duty of care to these pupils in the 1970s and 80s.

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Simon Jenkins is wrong about the NHS infected blood inquiry | Letters

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A public inquiry was the only way to get justice for those affected by this scandal, which went on for two decades and was covered up for 20 years more, writes Diana Johnson MP

I categorically disagree with the comments from Simon Jenkins about the use and purpose of public inquiries, and with his particular reference to the NHS infected blood inquiry (Public inquiries are institutionally corrupt, we should just give the money to victims, 17 June) .

After nearly 40 years of campaigning and the refusal by the state to acknowledge the harm done to thousands of people, the NHS infected blood inquiry was finally announced in 2017 when all opposition parties in the Commons came together, threatening to vote against Theresa May’s minority government.

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Infected blood scandal: Hancock pledges payouts if advised by inquiry

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Health secretary agrees government has ‘moral responsibility’ to address what happened in 1970s and 80s

Matt Hancock has said compensation will be paid to people people infected by contaminated blood products and their relatives if is recommended by the public inquiry into the scandal.

Appearing at the inquiry on Friday, the health secretary agreed the government had a “moral responsibility” to address what had happened.

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Hospital removes bust of professor linked to blood scandal

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Families wanted bust of Prof Arthur Bloom removed from haemophilia centre in Cardiff

A hospital trust has removed a bust of a haemophilia expert who is at the centre of the contaminated blood scandal.

The bust of the late Prof Arthur Bloom was removed from the haemophilia centre at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after a campaign by families of some of those who were infected and requests from current patients.

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