Infected blood scandal inquiry latest: ‘Chilling’ cover up over decades led to thousands of deaths
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Infected blood scandal greatest injustice country has seen, claims Andy Burnham
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Politicians, doctors and civil servants carried out a “chilling” and “pervasive” cover up, which led to the deaths of around 3,000 people through contaminated blood, a damning inquiry has found.
Tens of thousands of people were avoidably infected with HIV and Hepatitis in the “worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS”, according to a 2,527-page report released on Monday.
The inquiry into the “shameful” scandal found the public was falsely reassured, children were treated unnecessarily and that a significant number of people remain undiagnosed after receiving blood transfusions in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
The NHS was also accused of “defensive closing of ranks” and that there had been a deliberate destruction of documents, including people’s medical records.
John Glen, the Cabinet Office minister dealing with the scandal on behalf of the government, has refused to rule out criminal proceedings, saying: “If there’s clear evidence and there is a pathway to that, then it’s obviously something the government will have to address. I can’t be sure, but we’ve got to give these people justice.”
A compensation package for victims worth more than £10billion is expected to be announced by ministers while, Rishi Sunak is set to apologise on behalf of the government.
Key Points
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Infected blood scandal is ‘still happening’ as repercussions continue
Publishing the final report, chairman Sir Brian said that the contaminated blood disaster is “still happening” because patients who suffered “life-shattering” infections continue to die every week.
He added: “The scale speaks for itself, if you have over 30,000 people who go into hospital and come out with infections which were life-shattering that in itself is huge and the suffering for them and others is huge.
“When you add that the fact that over 3,000 have died and deaths keep on happening week after week, you not only have a disaster that has happened over years but is still happening.
“What that brings with it is suffering which is very difficult to put into words, you really have to listen to people who have lived with it to hear and understand.”
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:43
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‘Level of suffering is difficult to comprehend’, says report
Sir Brian said the “level of suffering is difficult to comprehend” and that the harms done to people have been compounded by the reaction of successive governments, the NHS and the medical profession.
He said that repeated claims from successive governments that patients received the best medical treatment at the time, and that blood screening had been introduced at the earliest opportunity were “untrue”.
Much of the responsibility for failures identified in the report lie with successive governments, which failed to act in order to save face and expense, the inquiry said, with the current Government criticised for failing to act immediately on recommendations around compensation which were made last year.
Chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said the scale of what had happened is ‘horrifying’ (Infected Blood Inquiry/PA) (PA Media)
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:41
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Children used as ‘objects for research’, Infected Blood Inquiry report finds
Children were used as “objects for research” while the risks of contracting hepatitis and HIV were ignored at a specialist school where boys were treated for haemophilia, the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry has found.
Of the pupils that attended the Lord Mayor Treloar College in the 1970s and 80s, “very few escaped being infected” and of the 122 pupils with haemophilia that attended the school between 1970 and 1987, only 30 are still alive.
Several pupils at the boarding school for disabled children in Hampshire were given treatment for haemophilia at an on-site NHS centre while receiving their education.
But it was later found that many pupils with the condition had been treated with plasma blood products which were infected with hepatitis and HIV.
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:37
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Report shows ‘truth has been hidden for decades’
Sir Brian said “the scale of what happened is horrifying”, with more than 3,000 people dead as a result and survivors battling for decades to uncover the truth.
“Lord Winston famously called these events ‘the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS’. I have to report that it could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided,” his report states.
It highlights how “the truth has been hidden for decades” and there was evidence of Department of Health documents being “marked” for destruction in 1993.
Victims and campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster, london, after the publication of the Inquiry report (Jeff Moore/PA Wire)
“Viewing the response of the NHS and of government overall, the answer to the question ‘Was there a cover-up?’ is that there has been,” it states.
“Not in the sense of a handful of people plotting in an orchestrated conspiracy to mislead, but in a way that was more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications.
“In this way there has been a hiding of much of the truth.”
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:34
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Destruction and disappearance of medical records had ‘emotional toll’ on people
The report also explored the destruction and disappearance of medical records from hospitals, GPs and health boards.
It told of the “emotional toll” people went through trying to obtain records, making reference to a woman who described trying to get her late father’s medical records as “like a battle of wills”.
The report concluded that it is likely records went missing because of a “mixture of incompetence, a lack of proper systems, and the problems inherent in keeping paper records”.
“That said, the possibility that there may have been occasions in the past when records may deliberately have been left incomplete or have been filleted remains,” Sir Brian wrote.
He said there are “reasons for concern”, but it is not possible to reach firm conclusions.
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:32
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‘Truth hidden for decades’ by NHS and government
Politicians, doctors and civil servants are guilty of a decades-long cover-up in what has been called the “worst treatment disaster” in the history of the NHS.
Tens of thousands of people were given infected blood products by the NHS 1970 and 1998, while an estimated 3,000 people died, and countless more suffered as a result of the scandal.
More than half-a-century after the first transmissions, the Infected Blood Inquiry has released its damning 2,000-page report on Monday, concluding that a lllack of openness, transparency and candour has been shown by the NHS and government such that “the truth has been hidden for decades”.
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:31
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Deaths and suffering of tens of thousands ‘could and should have been avoided,’ concludes inquiry
The deaths and suffering of tens of thousands of people who received infected blood products from the NHS between 1970 and 1998 “could and should have been avoided”, a landmark report has found.
Publishing its damning findings on Monday, the Infected Blood Inquiry blamed the “shameful” concealing of the truth by institutions, including the NHS and the government, for compounding the harm caused to patients, stating: “This should never happen again.”
It concluded: “A level of suffering which it is difficult to comprehend, still less understand, has been caused to so many and … been compounded by the reaction of the government, NHS bodies other public bodies, the medical professions and others.”
Infected blood campaigners hugging at a meeting in Parliament Square (Aaron Chown/PA Wire)
Tara Cobham 20 May 2024 12:30
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What is the infected blood scandal? Everything you need to know
A public inquiry into the long-running infected blood scandal is due to publish its findings today, with a compensation scheme running into the billions thought to be amongst recommendations.
The latest evidence submitted to the inquiry suggests that nearly 2,000 of victims are living with undetected hepatitus C as a result of the scandal.
Read the full article here:
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:27
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In pictures: Families of relatives gather to await report’s findings
A van with a poster on outside Central Hall in Westminster, London (Jeff Moore/PA Wire)Families affected by the infected blood scandal to hear the findings of the six-year inquiry (Getty Images)
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:10
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England’s blood service is one of the safest in the world today – health leaders
The blood service in England is “now one of the safest in the world,” NHS officials have said as the Infected Blood Inquiry has published its final report.
The probe, one of the largest ever in the UK, examined how people received contaminated blood and blood products in the 1970s through to the early 1990s.
Publication of the inquiry could cause concern among people in need of blood now, but NHS officials have described how things are “very different” today.
Read the full article here:
Holly Evans20 May 2024 12:01
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/infected-blood-scandal-inquiry-report-nhs-uk-b2547985.html
