The Contaminated Blood & Blood Products Public Inquiry
The Inquiry will examine why men, women and children in the UK were given infected blood and/or infected blood products; the impact on their families; how the authorities (including government) responded; the nature of any support provided following infection; questions of consent; and whether there was a cover-up. For more details, please see the Terms of Reference.
The Inquiry has now begun its investigative work. The first stage is to obtain evidence and witness statements.
Further details related to the Public Inquiry can be found on the dedicated website. Simply click on the Inquiry logo or use the link below:
Statement on Infected Blood Inquiry – David Lidington
David Lidington, Minister for the Cabinet Office, made a statement in the House of Commons today on the Infected Blood Inquiry and answers questions from members of parliament.
In a letter to the Minister, Sir Brian Langstaff said the inquiry would consider what had happened and why, and the response of government and others.
Many of those affected and their families say they were not told of the risks involved. Patients in other countries were also infected.
It was revealed on Monday that the process of gathering evidence would begin this week and the inquiry would take between two and four years.
The first public hearings involving victims and their families will be in late September but the inquiry is likely then to hold private sessions until the new year.
Sir Brian said: “What is difficult to comprehend is the sheer scale of what happened”. The numbers of people, both adults and children, from all walks of life, who were infected by Hepatitis viruses, or HIV, from clotting factor or transfused blood runs into thousands.
At least as many more – including partners, children, parents, families, friends or carers – have been affected. This may have happened principally in the 1970s and 1980s but the consequences persist today with people continuing to feel the mental, physical, social, work-related and financial effects.
Many of the people infected and their families have battled for years to understand what happened and how they have been treated since. “I aim to put the people who have been infected and affected at the heart of this inquiry”. “I am determined to get to the truth and where necessary will use the inquiry’s power to compel witnesses to explain their actions.”
He urged people with knowledge or personal experience who might be able to help the inquiry to come forward. Campaigners who have fought for decades for a full independent investigation welcomed the announcement by Sir Brian Langstaff.
He said that he was very happy with the terms of reference. He added that the judge had “done a very good job and listened to what was said in meetings with campaigners”
With thanks to TaintedBlood
Those who have died include: 1 Mike Dorricott, 2 Bob Threakall, 3 Colin Smith 4 Barry Farrugia, 5 Victor Farrugia, 6 Jason Hingston, 7 Jeremy Foyle, 8 Paul Hooper, 9 David Hatton, 10 Fred Paintin, 11 Peter MacRae and 12 Derek Lee
Friday 21st September 2018 Grace Melody-Gardner interviews Tainted Blood victim, Melanie McKay together with Jason McCartney, ahead of the Infected Blood Inquiry, which officially begins on Monday 24th September 2018.
Anna Foster talks to campaigner Jason Evans and solicitor Des Collins, ahead of the Public Inquiry into infected blood, which is scheduled to start on Monday 24th September 2018.
Contaminated blood scandal: Patients slam top medic over recording – ‘we were treated like lab rats’
Picture by Polly Hancock
Contaminated blood scandal victims have slammed the former director of the Royal Free Hospital’s haemophilia centre after unearthing a recording which sees her admit to non-consensual blood testing of patients and criticise campaigners.
Listen to the full recording of Christine Lee here:
Self-Centred and Manipulative – Dr Peter Jones’ shocking words to Blood Scandal Victims
A bizarre rant by Dr Peter Jones, who ran the Newcastle Haemophilia Centre appalled listeners this Sunday. BBC Radio 4’s “The Reunion” program aired on 11th September 2016 looking to discuss the events surrounding the Contaminated Blood Scandal and how it affected Haemophiliacs in Britain.
Contaminated blood inquiry accused of silencing victims before it starts
Lawyers for hundreds of victims claim they are not being paid for work representing those taking part in hearings in September.
Lawyers for hundreds of people affected by a contaminated blood scandal have accused a public inquiry of trying to “silence victims” in a dispute over legal fees.
The bitter row comes less than three weeks before the opening of the Infected Blood Inquiry, which will examine what has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.
Thousands of people were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C by contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s, with at least 2,400 dying as a consequence amid accusations of an official cover-up.
After a 30-year campaign by victims and families, Theresa May last year ordered a public inquiry, to be chaired by retired judge Sir Brian Langstaff.
Now, the solicitors for some victims say they may not be able to provide proper legal representation because the inquiry is failing to meet their legal costs. Victims have described the dispute as “a kick in the teeth”.
ITV Wales Evening News : 24th August 2018 with Colin & Janet Smith
A memorial ceremony has been held in Newport, Wales by the family of a victim of the Contaminated Blood Scandal. Colin Smith was just 7 years of age when he died.
ITV Wales Lunchtime News : 24th August 2018 with Janet Smith
Chris Stephens MP: No liability has ever been admitted in the UK for the contaminated blood scandal
Denials, cover-ups and delays have led to obstructive and ignorant treatment of contaminated blood scandal campaigners, says Chris Stephens MP.
It was the use of blood clotting products in the 1970’s and 1980’s such as Factor 8 (derived from paid donors largely from the US, with no reliable screening for infections) that caused illness and death. Over 75% of those who received treatment from those products developed infections, and the sheer folly of tainted blood products being used even when the risks were becoming known is a monstrous injustice inflicted on those who only sought treatment for their condition and trusted medical professionals with their lives. Obviously the families of those infected have also suffered and experienced not only loss but also the pain of finding out after their loved one’s death that files have gone missing or that a diagnosis of alcohol related death was recorded for someone who never drank alcohol.
The Secret in my Blood Part 3 At the age of eight, Matt was given blood products contaminated with HIV. When he found out, he couldn’t tell a soul. After the first signs of infection started to show, the doctors told his parents he would probably have two years to live
Matt Merry, a severe Haemophiliac, explains how he was infected with both HIV and Hepatitis C at just eight years old after been given contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS. You can read Matt’s full story ‘The Secret in my Blood’ below :
The second in this series of interviews from the BBC highlighting some of the heartbreaking examples our community have been forced to suffer as we get closer to the start of the public inquiry.
Tim Wratten talks about his Haemophiliac father Peter, who died after he was infected with Hepatitis C through Contaminated Blood Products supplied by the NHS.
Joseph Peaty
Stuart Ellis, sitting in for Graham Torrington, interviews haemophiliac Joseph Peaty, who was infected with Hepatitis and HIV through contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS.
NHS blood scandal: ‘I don’t want him to have died in vain’
In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of patients across the UK were given blood products that were infected with viruses such as Hepatitis C and HIV.
Now, a long-awaited public inquiry has begun.
Jean Hill’s husband Ron died after being infected with Hepatitis C.
Jean Hill talks about losing her Haemophiliac husband, Ron after he was infected with Hepatitis C after being given Contaminated Blood Products supplied by the NHS.
Tainted love
Liz married twice. The same NHS scandal killed both her husbands.
Liz Hooper never meant to fall in love with two haemophiliacs, any more than she ever intended to be widowed twice. But fall in love with them is what she did, one after the other. And now they are gone, she says, her heart overflows for both men equally.
For more than a year we have been hearing what the victims and/or their families would like from this Inquiry, and we have come to know them well. It is of course in no one’s power to bring back someone’s father, wife or child, but what is completely within the power of this government, the public inquiry and the courts, is to give those affected some answers and put in place some form of closure.
Our clients want to stop having to fight the government and the pharmaceutical companies responsible for importing and distributing infected blood products, and they want the recognition and acknowledgement of extensive and long term wrong-doing that they rightly deserve.
The obvious questions that arise are, what is recognition? And after all this time what does ‘Truth and Justice’ look like?
Northern Ireland victims of blood scandal urged to have say at inquiry
The terms of reference said the inquiry will consider “whether there have been attempts to conceal details of what happened” through the destruction of documents or withholding of information.
It will also consider if those attempts were deliberate and if “there has been a lack of openness or candour” in the response of the Government, NHS bodies and other officials.
Inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff vowed he would “put the people who have been infected and affected “at its heart”.
A report on the Infected Blood Inquiry and the statement marking the official start of the inquiry from Cabinet Minister, David Lidington – featuring campaigners Neil Weller and Jason Evans
‘We must make sure this never happens again’ – probe will look at ‘cover up’ of NHS’ worst scandal
Michelle Tolley had blood transfusions twice when she was pregnant in the 1980s. Photo: Simon Finlay
The 53-year old, who runs support group Contaminated Whole Blood UK, said she had “every faith” that the inquiry would “leave no stone unturned in the search for truth and justice”.
“For all of those who lost their lives, were infected, or affected by the worst tragedy in the history of the NHS, we must make sure this never happens again,” she said.
Reporter Angela Walker gives an overview of the Infected Blood Inquiry which officially began yesterday (2nd July 2018), reviewing the statement made by Cabinet Minister David Lidington in the House of Commons
Sean Curran reports on today’s statement from Cabinet Office minister, David Lidington on the Infected Blood Inquiry.
The process of gathering evidence would begin this week and the inquiry would take between two and four years.
The first public hearings involving victims and their families will be in late September 2018 but the inquiry is likely then to hold private sessions until early 2019.
Blood scandal inquiry ‘will find any cover-up’
Sir Brian said: “What is difficult to comprehend is the sheer scale of what happened.
“The numbers of people, both adults and children, from all walks of life, who were infected by Hepatitis viruses, or HIV, from clotting factor or transfused blood runs into thousands.
“At least as many more – including partners, children, parents, families, friends or carers – have been affected.
“This may have happened principally in the 1970s and 1980s but the consequences persist today with people continuing to feel the mental, physical, social, work-related and financial effects.
