Infected blood scandal LIVE: Reaction as long-awaited report blames 'worst treatment disaster' in NHS history on MPs, doctors and civil service - latest updates

5 months ago 44

By Jamie Bullen

Published: 13:41 BST, 20 May 2024 | Updated: 16:49 BST, 20 May 2024

The Infected Blood Inquiry has found the 'worst ever treatment' scandal in NHS history should have been avoided as a series of shocking failures were followed by a pervasive cover-up.

More than 3,000 victims have died and tens of thousands more continue to suffer after vulnerable patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis from contaminated blood products during the 1970s and early 1990s.

Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said that the contaminated blood disaster is 'no accident' and that people who put their trust in doctors and the government were 'betrayed'.

Follow MailOnline's live coverage below

Former surgeon reveals there were warnings 'in the early 70s'

SNP MP Dr Phillipa Whitford’s time as a surgeon was impacted by the blood scandal.

She told BBC Radio 5 how there were warning 'in the early 70s'.

The former surgeon said:

'I became obsessed with how to avoid spilling blood so I very rarely needed to transfuse.'

Read: The school that gave students HIV

Rory Tingle reports how 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.

Sir John Major 'shocked' by infected blood report

Former prime minister John Major is said to be 'shocked' by the contents of the Infected Blood Inquiry's report which blamed successive governments along with the NHS and doctors over the scandal.

The BBC reported it had spoken to Sir John's office.

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson said:

He hopes the government will give the report full and serious consideration and that its response will be comprehensive and swift

Sir John, who led the country from 1990 to 1997, did not serve in government when most of the victims were treated with contaminated blood products but did hold senior positions when financial support for families was mooted in the late 1980s.

Watch: Soldier reveals he received tainted blood after losing leg

Former soldier Brendan West has described his shock upon discovering he was given contaminated blood after losing his leg during his service.

Mr West, now 63, discovered he was infected with Hepatitis C four decades after he underwent a blood transfusion in 1979 while at a British military hospital in Germany.

Watch the video below to hear his story:

What have MPs said today on the infected blood report?

Attention will soon be turning to Rishi Sunak as he addresses the Commons over the infected blood scandal.

The Prime Minister is expected to apologise for the failures from government and adopt recommendations made by Sir Brian Flagstaff following publication of his report.

Let's take a look at what other MPs have said today before and after its release

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps accepted the infected blood scandal had been “shameful”.

The Defence Secretary told Sky News:

Yes, I think it has been too slow, of course I do.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said 'successive governments' bear responsibility for the 'appalling' contaminated blood scandal.

He told Sky News:

I have not seen the report yet but I would anticipate that Sir Brian Langstaff is going to criticise, as you said, successive governments.

Everyone has got their responsibility to bear in this appalling scandal and we have got a shared responsibility to put it right.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Steve Brine, chair of the health and social care select committee, says 'we have a story here of systemic governmental, political failure and cover up'.

Read: Infected blood scandal destroyed my family

Inderdeep Bains, The Daily Mail's deputy chief reporter, speaks to Karen Merry whose life was turned upside down when she tragically lost her brother Jason and cousin Stevie when both men were in their 20s.

Both Jason and Stevie had haemophilia and were given contaminated blood as children.

Read Karen's story here:

Watch: Campaigners react to infected blood report

We can now bring you footage showing reaction from campaigners to the infected blood report following its release earlier today.

Watch the video below:

Sir Brian Langstaff speech: Main talking points and takeaways

Sir Brian Langstaff, the Infected Blood Inquiry chairman, has spoken for around an hour this afternoon following publication of the final report into the scandal.

Here are the key moments from his speech:

Children's lives were irrevocably altered after they witnessed the decline and death of one, sometimes both, parents with the grief and trauma continuing to this day
NHS and successive governments compounded agony of victims by refusing to accept that wrongdoing had taken place.
Doctors failed to put patient safety first as health leaders lost sight of what was known about the risks of viral infections from blood.
The Government was “unconscionably slow” in reacting to emerging knowledge that blood products could lead to Aids. He said despite an epidemic in the US, the UK response was one of denial, disbelief, dismissiveness and delay.
Time for victims to receive 'proper compensation' and apology from the Government. Sir Brian said he fully expected the Government to apologise and called for victims to receive financial redress without delay.

We will continue to bring you reaction throughout the afternoon.

Sir Brian Langstaff - Time for victims to receive proper compensation

Jeff Moore/PA Wire

The Infected Blood Inquiry chairman has finished his speech by calling on the Government to compensate victims of the scandal without 'unreasonable delay'

He concluded:

In the context of this Inquiry, perhaps beyond all other, it is unconscionable to allow a state of affairs to exist in which people’s fears that the lessons and recommendations of this Inquiry will collect dust on a Cabinet Office shelf are realised…

It is for the Government to respond as it will, but I intend to use my position as far as I properly can to prevent unreasonable delay in its doing so.

Sir Brian ended his statement by saying:

It may be late, but it is not too late: now is the time, finally, for national recognition of this disaster, for proper compensation and for vindication for all those have been so terribly wronged.

Sir Brian Langstaff - Civil service guilty of 'institutional defensiveness'

Returning to Sir Brian Langstaff now who has taken aim at the civil service whose decisions compounded failures in decision-making that led to the original infections.

He said:

This pattern of institutional defensiveness must stop. When citizens have concerns that something has gone seriously wrong, fairness should mean they get answers.

People infected with blood and blood products did not. Instead their trauma has been compounded by the lack of recognition of what had happened to them and by a lack of accountability.

He said that 'lines repeatedly deployed by successive governments', including remarks that people had the best treatment available, that the infections were inadvertent and that screening for hepatitis C could not have been introduced earlier than 1991, were 'untrue'.

Sir Brian added:

Much of the responsibility for this institutional defensiveness lies with the Civil Service.

Sir Brian Flagstaff - I fully expect Government to apologise

Jeff Moore/PA Wire

Sir Brian Langstaff (pictured above) has said he 'fully expects' the Government to apologise to victims of the contaminated blood scandal after his devastating report into how victims were failed over generations.

The Infected Blood Inquiry chairman said:

To be meaningful, though, that apology must explain what the apology is for, it should recognise and acknowledge not just the suffering, but the fact that the suffering was the result of errors, wrongs done, and delays incurred.

It should provide vindication to those who have waited for that for so long. And it should be accompanied by action.

Rishi Sunak is expected to address the Commons at around 5pm.

'Poor record keeping' helped fuel blood scandal

Sir Brian Langstaff said 'poor record keeping' contributed to the contaminated blood disaster.

The inquiry chairman said:

Poor record keeping has been a problem across many of the issues examined by the Inquiry.

This had an impact on safety. If you can’t trace the source of a transfusion back to the donor who was infected, you cannot then tell and treat the donor, and avoid any further donations from that source. Nor can you trace previous donations to check if other people who have had transfusions from the same source have become ill.

And reporting of infections did not have the priority it should have done.

Government 'unconscionably slow' in reacting to Aids risk

The Government was “unconscionably slow” in reacting to emerging knowledge that blood products could lead to Aids, Sir Brian Langstaff said.

Speaking in a press conference, Sir Brian said:

A real risk that blood products transmitted the cause of Aids was known by Government by July 1982; by all haemophilia doctors by the end of 1982.

There was already a growing epidemic in the US likely to come to these shores. Yet the response was one of denial, disbelief, dismissiveness and delay.

The Government’s response was unconscionably slow. So too was the response of haemophilia centre directors, and of their organisation, the UKHCDO.

Sir Brian Langstaff - NHS and successive governments compounded agony

Sir Brian said the NHS and successive governments compounded the agony by refusing to accept that wrong had been done, before adding health leaders “did not put patient safety first”.

He made the remarks in a statement made to victims and their loved ones:

Tragically, the infections happened because those in authority – doctors, the blood services and successive governments – did not put patient safety first.

They lost sight of what was known about the risks of viral infections from blood. ‘Doctor knows best’ was such a strong belief that health departments did not issue guidance to curb the unsafe use of blood and blood products.

Decision-making on measures that could make blood and blood products safer was put off, then dragged out unnecessarily, and failed to reach clear and decisive conclusions.

Sir Brian Langstaff - Grief and trauma continues to this day

The statement continued:

Early on, in particular, they had to do so whilst being shunned, or worse, abused, by neighbours, workmates, by people they had once thought of as friends. Sometimes by health professionals.

The Inquiry is not just investigating something which happened years ago. It is still happening.

People still have to care for the after-effects of what happened which their loved ones still suffer. The grief and trauma which all of those who lost loved ones experienced continues to this day.

The early treatments for HIV and Hepatitis C, were often worse than the illnesses themselves; the side-effects linger, and for a number of those infected with Hepatitis C the damage done over so many years to their liver has left them at risk of developing cancer and requiring liver transplants.

Every aspect of their lives has been defined by their infections – childhood; education; career; leisure; relationships; marriages; home-ownership; travel; finances; dreams and ambitions have been lost and relationships broken.

Sir Brian Langstaff - Children's lives were irrevocably altered

Sir Brian Langstaff, chairman of the Infected Blood Inquiry, has delivered a statement to victims and their loved ones following the release of his report.

After he was met with a standing ovation, Sir Brian said:

For everyone involved the evidence given to this Inquiry has been difficult to listen to, that is an understatement. It has been hard for those centrally involved; and must have been hard for many observing.

But it has been much harder still for those who were recounting their own experiences, or listening to stories which touched a nerve, which brought back memories they would rather have forgotten but had brought themselves to tell the Inquiry because their truth was important to tell.

The harm that was done to people cannot adequately be put into words, I have tried. But parents watched their children suffer and, in many cases, die.

Children witnessed the decline and death of one, sometimes both, parents and their lives were irrevocably altered as a result. People had to care for their grievously ill partners or other family members, often at the expense of their own health and careers.

Blood victim - 'Words won't wash away crimes'

Ros Cooper, infected blood scandal

Ros Cooper, who was infected with hepatitis C after treatment for a bleeding disorder as a child, said any apology for the blood scandals needs to come from somebody who understands that lives were ruined as a result.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that 'words don't mean a lot'.

To a lot of people who've lost loved ones, what are words going to do? It's not going to bring back the dead, it's not going to wash away crimes that have been committed,' she said.

Lives were effectively ruined because of those decisions. Any kind of apology, to be worth anything to the victims, needs to come from somebody who truly understands that.

Timeline - how the infected blood scandal unfolded

Here is a timeline of the contaminated blood scandal:

1972: NHS starts importing large batches of Factor VIII products from United States to help clot blood of haemophiliacs.
1974: Some researchers warn that Factor VIII could be contaminated and spreading hepatitis.
Late-1970s: Patients continue to be given Factor VIII, with much of the plasma used to make the product coming from donors such as prison inmates, drug addicts and prostitutes.
1983: Governments in both the UK and the United States are told that Aids has been spread through blood products.
Mid-1980s: By now the blood products such as Factor VIII, were being heat-treated to kill viruses, but thousands of patients had already been infected.
1991: Blood products imported from US are withdrawn from use. The government awards ex-gratia payments to haemophiliac victims threatening to sue.
2007: Privately-funded inquiry into scandal set up by Lord Archer of Sandwell but it does not get offical status and relies on donations.
2008: Penrose Inquiry launched, but victims claim the seven-year investigation was a 'whitewash'.
2017: Independent inquiry into contaminated blood scandal announced by Prime Minister Theresa May.
2019: Infected Blood Inquiry starts hearing evidence
May 20, 2024 - Final report is released

Read: 'Chilling' cover-up led to sick children treated like 'guinea pigs'

The scathing report into the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history has identified a litany of failures.

They damning assessment covers multiple governments, prominent politicians and health organisations, with victims repeatedly lied to, misled and ignored, and children treated like 'objects for research'.

Read our MailOnline report here:

Campaigners - Politicians should 'hang their heads in shame'

Leading blood campaigners have said many politicians 'should hang their heads in shame' following today's report.

Clive Smith, chairman of The Haemophilia Society, said:

No single person is responsible for this scandal. It’s been the result of generations of denial, delay and cover-up.

And whilst there might be an apology later today from the Prime Minister, it’s not just the Prime Minister who holds responsibility and accountability for this.

There are many others out there, and I would expect over the coming days and weeks for many more people to come forward and say ‘sorry, I’m sorry for my part’. And if they’re genuinely sorry they will help implement the recommendations that Sir Brian has recommended today.

Andy Evans, chairman of the Tainted Blood campaign group, added:

Any apologies that we’ve had in the past have been meaningless because all they said is this should never have happened. We know that this should never have happened.

What was your part in it? What are you sorry for? That’s what the community needs to hear before we can even begin to get closure on this.

Blood scandal victims - We are 'validated and vindicated' by report

Jeff Moore/PA Wire

Victims of the contaminated blood scandal said they felt 'validated and vindicated' by the inquiry’s final report into the scandal.

Andy Evans, chairman of the Tainted Blood campaign group, told a press conference that it was a “momentous day”.

Sometimes we felt like we were shouting into the wind during the last 40 years…

Today proves that it can happen in the UK and I just feel validated and vindicated by Sir Brian and his report today.

Watch: Blood scandal was 'no accident', says inquiry chairman

Watch the moment the Infected Blood Inquiry chairman said the contaminated blood disaster is 'no accident' and that people who put their trust in doctors and the government were 'betrayed'.

See the video below:

Rishi Sunak expected to apologise in the Commons

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to the press during a visit to Omnom, a restaurant and community centre in London, Britain, May 6, 2024. HENRY NICHOLLS/File Photo

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is widely expected to issue an apology in Parliament later today.

Whitehall sources expect NHS chief Amanda Pritchard to issue her own apology for the worst treatment disgrace in the history of the health service.

Tomorrow ministers will set out plans for a massive compensation scheme, which could cost taxpayers more than £10 billion.

Campaigners believe those infected with hepatitis C and HIV could receive payments of around £1.4million.

Interim compensation payments of £100,000 have been made to around 4,000 infected people or bereaved partners.

Ministers recently announced that these interim payments would be extended to the 'estates of the deceased'.

Campaigners have hailed the publication of the report as the 'end of a 40-year fight'.

Infected Blood Inquiry report - what did it find?

The infected blood scandal was 'not an accident' but the result of a series of shocking failures over many years, the report concluded today.

The report, running to more than 2,500 pages, lists 'a catalogue of failures,' all of which Sir Brian deemed 'serious', though 'taken together they are a calamity'.

They include:

A severe lack of blood screening and a lax attitude to who was donating – despite the fact the government was importing products which had an increased likelihood of being unsafe
Children were treated as 'objects for research' after being given 'riskier' products made from multiple sources while staying at Treloar's, a boarding school for the sick
Delays in informing people about their infections, sometimes for years. Some were also told in 'insensitive' and 'inappropriate' ways
Too many transfusions were also given when they were not necessarily needed

Infected blood scandal - the history

Before we explore the reaction to let's just look back at the infected blood scandal and how we got to today's report

More than 30,000 people in the UK are thought to have been infected with HIV and hepatitis C at the hands of the NHS after being given contaminated blood products.
The scandal began in the early 1970s when new blood clotting products were developed to be used in treatments for people with bleeding disorders.
A shortage of blood in the UK led ministers to source cheap batches from the US where supplies relied on high-risk paid donors, many in prisons and including drug addicts.
Most of those infected in the UK were people who received treatment for blood disorders such as haemophilia and those who had blood transfusions.
The inquiry was first announced by former prime minister Theresa May in 2017, with the first official hearing held on April 20 2019.
It is one of the largest UK public inquiries and has been led by former High Court judge Sir Brian Langstaff, who was appointed to chair in February 2018.

Some 374 people have given oral evidence, and the inquiry has received more than 5,000 witness statements and reviewed more than 100,000 documents

Inquiry chairman - Contaminated blood victims 'betrayed' by doctors

Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said that the contaminated blood disaster is “no accident” and that people who put their trust in doctors and the government were “betrayed”.

He told broadcasters:

What I have been looking at are people from families across the UK who have gone into hospital for treatment and over 30,000 have come out with infections which were life-shattering.

And 3,000 of those have died and deaths keep on happening week-by-week. What I have found is that disaster was no accident. People put their trust in doctors and the government to keep them safe and that trust was betrayed.

Then the government compounded that agony by telling them that nothing wrong had been done, that they’d had the best available treatment and that as soon as tests were available they were introduced and both of those statements were untrue.

That’s why what I’m recommending is that compensation must be paid now and I have made various other recommendations to help make the future of the NHS better and treatment safer.

What has happened today with the infected blood scandal?

Jeff Moore/PA Wire

The final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry was published this afternoon which has concluded the scandal could and should have been largely avoided.

Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff (pictured above, left) said that the contaminated blood disaster is “still happening” because patients who suffered “life-shattering” infections continue to die every week.

He said:

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.

Good afternoon

MailOnline will provide live updates on the latest reaction to the infected blood scandal.

A report released by the Infected Blood Inquiry has found the NHS treatment disaster is the 'worst ever' and should have been avoided as a series of shocking failures were followed by a pervasive cover-up.

Follow our blog for the latest reaction.

Key Updates

Sir Brian Langstaff - Time for victims to receive proper compensation
Sir Brian Flagstaff - I fully expect Government to apologise
Timeline - how the infected blood scandal unfolded
Blood scandal victims - We are 'validated and vindicated' by report
Rishi Sunak expected to apologise in the Commons
Infected Blood Inquiry report - what did it find?
Infected blood scandal - the history
Inquiry chairman - Contaminated blood victims 'betrayed' by doctors
What has happened today with the infected blood scandal?

Read Entire Article

Infected blood scandal LIVE: Reaction as long-awaited report blames 'worst treatment disaster' in NHS history on MPs, doctors and civil service - latest updates

Former surgeon reveals there were warnings 'in the early 70s'

Read: The school that gave students HIV

Sir John Major 'shocked' by infected blood report

Watch: Soldier reveals he received tainted blood after losing leg

What have MPs said today on the infected blood report?

Read: Infected blood scandal destroyed my family

Watch: Campaigners react to infected blood report

Sir Brian Langstaff speech: Main talking points and takeaways

Sir Brian Langstaff - Time for victims to receive proper compensation

Sir Brian Langstaff - Civil service guilty of 'institutional defensiveness'

Sir Brian Flagstaff - I fully expect Government to apologise

'Poor record keeping' helped fuel blood scandal

Government 'unconscionably slow' in reacting to Aids risk

Sir Brian Langstaff - NHS and successive governments compounded agony

Sir Brian Langstaff - Grief and trauma continues to this day

Sir Brian Langstaff - Children's lives were irrevocably altered

Blood victim - 'Words won't wash away crimes'

Timeline - how the infected blood scandal unfolded

Read: 'Chilling' cover-up led to sick children treated like 'guinea pigs'

Campaigners - Politicians should 'hang their heads in shame'

Blood scandal victims - We are 'validated and vindicated' by report

Watch: Blood scandal was 'no accident', says inquiry chairman

Rishi Sunak expected to apologise in the Commons

Infected Blood Inquiry report - what did it find?

Infected blood scandal - the history

Inquiry chairman - Contaminated blood victims 'betrayed' by doctors

What has happened today with the infected blood scandal?

Good afternoon

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