Rishi Sunak said it was “a day of shame for the British state” on Monday as victims of the infected blood scandal were finally given an apology.
The Prime Minister said the worst treatment scandal in NHS history had resulted from a “moral failure at the heart of our national life” in which doctors, civil servants and ministers had put reputations above patient safety.
Thousands of people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C by contaminated blood products used in the NHS between the 1970s and 1990s.
A plan for compensation will be announced on Tuesday and is expected to top £10 billion.
The final report of a five-year inquiry into the scandal, which has so far claimed more than 3,000 lives, concluded that the health service and governments took part in a “chilling” cover up, as they “closed ranks” to hide the truth, even destroying documents to keep patients in the dark.
Sir Brian Langstaff, the inquiry chairman, said the “horrifying” scandal could and should have been avoided, but a “catalogue of failures” led to “calamity”.
The Prime Minister told the House of Commons: “This is a day of shame for the British state.
“Today’s report shows a decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life – from the National Health Service to the Civil Service, to ministers in successive governments, at every level the people and institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way.
“They failed the victims and their families and they failed this country.”
He added: “On behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry.”
Campaigners had dubbed the publication of the inquiry’s final report their “day of truth”.
Delivering his conclusions, Sir Brian was given a standing ovation as emotions ran high on a day that thousands of people did not live to see, and others thought might never come.
Patients “died or suffered miserably” as a result of being given contaminated blood products between 1970 and 1998 because medics and successive governments “did not put patient safety first”, he said. When the scandal was exposed, “the response of those in authority served to compound people’s suffering”.
He recommended that a compensation scheme be set up immediately for victims and bereaved families, which the Government is expected formally to accept.
“Now is the time for national recognition of this disaster and for proper compensation to all those who have been wronged,” he said.
Mr Sunak promised: “Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.”
He added: “The result of this inquiry should shake our nation to its core. This should have been avoided. It was known these treatments were contaminated, warnings were ignored repeatedly.
“Time and again people in positions of power and trust had the chance to stop the transmission of those infections. Time and again they failed to do so.”
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, told the victims: “Politics itself failed you – that failure applies to all parties including my own. There is only one word: sorry.”
Medicines for haemophiliacs, including one called Factor VIII, were imported from the US in the 1970s and 1980s and prescribed by the NHS.
However, the treatments were made from blood plasma donations which often came from groups at high risk for HIV and hepatitis C such as gay men, sex workers and prisoners and were often contaminated.
Contaminated blood was also used in blood transfusions.
Jason Evans, whose father died after contracting HIV and hepatitis C from infected blood, said the inquiry’s final report meant the “fight for truth is over” but that “no amount of truth” could help those who had suffered emotional trauma and physical illness.
Lord Clarke, the former health secretary, faces calls to be stripped of his peerage after he was condemned by Sir Brian for maintaining in the 1980s that there was no conclusive proof of HIV being spread through blood products – a position the inquiry chairman said was “indefensible”. The report said the former health secretary had misled the public.
Almost all of the doctors criticised in the report are now dead, with victims complaining that they have been denied justice after Sir Brian said there had been grounds for an inquiry as long ago as the 1980s.
Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, suggested there were grounds for corporate manslaughter charges to be considered against Whitehall departments.
Sir Brian said of the scandal: “I have to report that it could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided. And I have to report that it should have been.”
In his 2,527-page report Sir Brian also warned that a substantial number of people remained unaware that they were given transfusions or other products of infected blood, and were therefore undiagnosed.
They include around 900 people infected with hepatitis C and around 200 people who were infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, as children.
One of the most shocking episodes in the scandal happened at Lord Mayor Treloar School for children with disabilities in Alton, Hants, where many of the pupils were haemophiliacs.
Children there were “betrayed” when they were used as “objects” of experimental trials, and were not always told they were part of a trial, then suffered a “nightmare of tragic proportion” after being given disease-ridden drugs.
Young boys at the school were told in batches of five whether they had or had not tested positive for HIV in front of each other before being immediately sent back to class.
In other cases, doctors made the “unconscionable” decision not to tell pupils and parents they had tested positive for the virus at all.
Sir Brian said of the overall scandal: “It will be astonishing to anyone who reads this report that these events could have happened in the UK…that a level of suffering which it is difficult to comprehend, still less understand, has been caused to so many”.
He said victims of the scandal “have been forced into a decades-long battle for the truth” and added: “Successive governments claimed that patients had received the best medical treatment available at the time, and that blood screening had been introduced at the earliest opportunity. Both claims were untrue.
“Standing back, and 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.
“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.”
Sir Brian’s recommendations include that the statutory duty of candour that currently applies to doctors should be extended to NHS managers, executives and board members and that the “culture of defensiveness” in the NHS must end.
He also said that the Government should pay for a memorial to the victims and for a second memorial at Treloar’s School.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, also issued a public apology, saying: “Tens of thousands of people put their trust in the care they got from the NHS over many years, and they were badly let down.
“I therefore offer my deepest and heartfelt apologies for the role the NHS played in the suffering and the loss of all those infected and affected.
“I know that the apologies I can offer now do not begin to do justice to the scale of personal tragedy set out in this report, but we are committed to demonstrating this in our actions as we respond to its recommendations.”
Listen to Bed of Lies, a six-part Telegraph podcast laying bare one of the biggest medical disasters in history, the Infected Blood scandal, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app.
08:49 PM BST
What has changed in blood donation?
The NHS has stressed that much has changed in blood safety since the 1970s and 1980s.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, said that “while the long-term impacts of this scandal are far from over, I want to reassure patients needing blood and blood products today that rigorous modern safety standards continue to ensure that the NHS blood supply is now among the safest in the world”.
She asked that patients “please do continue to access treatment, and speak to your care team if you have any concerns”.
Nowadays, blood is distributed to NHS hospitals by NHS Blood and Transplant, which was established in 2005 to provide a national blood and transplantation service to the health service.
This follows strict guidelines and testing and is subject to regular inspections by independent regulators, the NHS said, with all samples routinely tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV and others before being sent to hospitals.
08:42 PM BST
New support service for infected blood victims
A new mental health service for the victims and bereaved families of the infected blood scandal is hoping to be open this summer, NHS England has said.
Its chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “While we work through those actions, we continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Care to establish a bespoke psychological support service for those affected, which will be ready to support its first patients later this summer.”
08:11 PM BST
‘Real worry’ report will be ignored
There is a “real worry” that that Infected Blood Inquiry report will be ignored, the chairwoman of Haemophilia Wales has said.
Lynne Kelly commended Sir Brian Langstaff’s report, saying there is a “feeling of closure”, although “nobody can bring back the people who have been lost”.
However, Ms Kelly said the “main concern” in Wales is how the Government will respond to the recommendations.
She went on: “I think the difficulty now is that Sir Brian’s recommendations may be overruled by government or ignored and that’s a real worry for people that we may still have to keep fighting after 40 years of fighting.
“So many people have lost their lives and yet we still have to continue, so I think people are reticent because they’ve seen what’s happened, the way that the history has been rewritten, that nothing has happened.
“So I feel that the apology is important, but the next stage now, compensation, that is bothering a lot of people, because obviously they feel that they want recognition.”
07:04 PM BST
NHS recognises pain of staff as well as patients
In her apology on behalf of the NHS in England, Amanda Pritchard said that the inquiry’s report “brings to an end a long fight for answers and understanding that those people who were infected and their families, should never have had to face”.
“In particular, I want to say sorry not just for the actions which led to life-altering and life-limiting illness, but also for the failures to clearly communicate, investigate and mitigate risks to patients from transfusions and treatments,” she added.
She also apologised “for a collective lack of openness and willingness to listen, that denied patients and families the answers and support they needed; and for the stigma that many experienced in the health service when they most needed support.
“I also want to recognise the pain that some of our staff will have experienced when it became clear that the blood products many of them used in good faith may have harmed people they cared for.
“I know that the apologies I can offer now do not begin to do justice to the scale of personal tragedy set out in this report, but we are committed to demonstrating this in our actions as we respond to its recommendations.”
07:02 PM BST
Breaking: NHS apologises
The NHS has apologised to victims of the infected blood scandal, saying patients “put their trust in the care they got from the NHS over many years, and they were badly let down”.
NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard said in a statement: “We owe it to all those affected by this scandal, and to the thorough work of the Inquiry team and those who have contributed, to take the necessary time now to fully understand the report’s conclusions and recommendations.
“However, what is already very clear is that tens of thousands of people put their trust in the care they got from the NHS over many years, and they were badly let down.
“I therefore offer my deepest and heartfelt apologies for the role the NHS played in the suffering and the loss of all those infected and affected.”
06:26 PM BST
Victims did not live to see justice
06:25 PM BST
Ed Davey says ‘fundamental job’ of state was not done
Responding to the inquiry’s report, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “I pay tribute to the survivors, the families, the campaigners and the journalists who fought so long and so hard for justice.
“Having listened to their stories, and now (to) see the evidence laid bare in this report, I want on behalf of my party to echo the Prime Minister’s apology.
“We are all truly sorry for the pain people have suffered over decades, under governments of all parties, and for the failures of politicians and the state to do the most fundamental job to keep people safe.
“We must now ensure full compensation is paid without anymore delay and we must also make sure that nothing like this can ever happen again.”
06:25 PM BST
Theresa May’s message for civil servants
In the Commons, the former Prime Minister Theresa May asked: “As we rightly today remember all the victims of this terrible tragedy, will (Rishi Sunak) commit himself unashamedly to working to ensure that all those in Government – politicians and civil servants – recognise that their job is to serve the public and not to protect themselves?”
Rishi Sunak acknowledged that the Tory MP launched the inquiry during her time as prime minister, adding that the Government would “study every single one” of the inquiry’s recommendations in detail and “work urgently across government and public organisations” to ensure “nothing like this can ever happen again”.
He added: “But also that we end the challenges that she encountered, where the institutions responsible for serving the public, including the NHS and civil service, are more concerned by cost than accountability.”
06:22 PM BST
Harrowing stories of victims
06:21 PM BST
Sajid Javid criticises public servants for putting themselves first
Former health secretary Sajid Javid said the infected blood inquiry and the recent Cass review into gender medicine were both linked by “public servants putting the reputation of themselves and the NHS above that of patient safety and care.”
Dame Diana Johnson, a Labour MP who has campaigned for years on tainted blood, said: “Finally, the truth.”
“The failure of his government to act on the second interim report by Sir Brian” – to pay compensation – “has added another layer of hurt,” she said.
“I hope very much that by the end of this year, compensation payments will start to be made to all those infected and affected.”
06:20 PM BST
‘Very worst of Westminster’
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader in the House of Commons said the scandal represented the “very worst of Westminster”.
“I wish to begin by stating something which I think we all now agree is self-evidently the case – that this scandal represents the very worst of Westminster,” he said.
“Decades of deflection, decades of denial and decades of deceit.”
05:58 PM BST
‘Abject failure’, says Theresa May
Theresa May, who ordered the inquiry, called it an “abject failure of the British state”.
“Medical professionals, civil servants, politicians – all of whom felt their job was to protect their own reputation rather than to serve and look after the public who they were there to serve,” the former Prime Minister said.
In addition, earlier she wrote on X:
I hope that all those infected and affected by the contaminated blood scandal have got the answers they deserve today. Yet again, a community has had to fight for decades for the truth to come out. They shouldn’t have had to fight so hard or for so long for this day to come.
— Theresa May (@theresa_may) May 20, 2024
05:56 PM BST
UK needs to show it can rectify this, says Starmer
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pledged to help ensure compensation is paid as quickly as possible, adding: “We commit that we will shine a harsh light on the lessons that must be learned, to make sure nothing like this ever happens again…
“We have to be honest: this scandal is not unique. Institutional defensiveness is a pattern of behaviour that we must address.
“For all the families affected we must restore the sense that this is a country that can rectify injustice particularly when carried out by institutes of the state. That is our job today this week and beyond. It is the very least that we owe.”
05:42 PM BST
This can never happen again, Sunak vows
Rishi Sunak vowed that “we will work together across government and our health services and civil society to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen in our country again”.
The Prime Minister apologised for the “dismissing of reports and campaigners’ detailed representations” and the “appalling length of time it took to secure a public inquiry”.
Earlier in his speech, he told the Commons: “I find it almost impossible to comprehend how it must have felt, to be told you had been infected through no fault of your own with HIV, or hepatitis B, or hepatitis C.
“Or to face the grief of losing a child, or to be young child and lose your mum or dad.”
05:40 PM BST
‘Layer upon layer of hurt’
In a powerful statement, Mr Sunak adds that “it did not have to be this way, it should never have been this way”.
“Layer upon layer of hurt endured across decades. This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal,” the Prime Minister says.
He says “it is not enough to say sorry… there can be no moving on from a report which is so devastating in its criticisms”.
“We must fundamentally rebalance the system so we finally address this pattern, so familiar from other inquiries like Hillsborough, where innocent victims have to fight for decades just to be believed,” he adds.
05:35 PM BST
Labour failed you too, Starmer tells victims
Sir Keir Starmer has told the Commons about his horror at the infected blood scandal too.
In a statement following the Prime Minister’s address, the Labour leader tells the victims: “Politics itself failed you – that failure applies to all parties including my own. There is only one word: sorry.”
He says that “wrongdoing, delay and systemic failure across the board” was “compounded by institutional defensiveness”.
Many of those infected and their families are watching the proceedings in the House of Commons public gallery.
05:32 PM BST
Compensation to be paid
Rishi Sunak has promised to pay “comprehensive compensation” to those affected and infected by the scandal.
“Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it,” he added, saying details would be set out on Tuesday.
He adds in the Commons: “Sir Brian finds an attitude of denial towards the risks of treatment.
“Worse, to our eternal shame in a way that it is hard to even comprehend, they allowed victims to become objects for research.”
He says ministers will return to the Commons soon with details on how to address the report’s other recommendations.
05:31 PM BST
‘Should shake our nation to its core’
The Prime Minister tells MPs: “Sir Brian [Langstaff, the inquiry chairman] finds a catalogue of systemic, collective and individual failures – each on its own serious, and taken together amounting to a calamity.
“And the result of this inquiry should shake our nation to its core. This should have been avoided. It was known these treatments were contaminated, warnings were ignored repeatedly.
“Time and again people in positions of power and trust had the chance to stop the transmission of those infections. Time and again they failed to do so.”
05:28 PM BST
Three-point apology
Rishi Sunak explains what the Government’s apology is for.
He says it is three-pronged – firstly for the “failure in blood policy and blood products” and the failure to respond to the risk of imported concentrates or to implement screening systems sooner.
Second, he says it is to say sorry for “the repeated failure of the state and our medical professionals” to recognise the harm caused.
Third, he says it is an apology for “the institutional refusal to face up to these failings” and attempts at denial and cover up.
05:25 PM BST
Government’s first apology for the scandal
Rishi Sunak tells MPs: “I want to make a wholehearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.”
“This is an apology by the state to every single person impacted by this scandal,” the Prime Minister says.
He adds: “On behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry.”
05:21 PM BST
Sunak: ‘Day of shame’
In the Government’s formal response to the inquiry, Rishi Sunak says “this is a day of shame for the British state”.
He tells MPs: “Today’s report shows a decades long moral failure at the heart of our national life – from the National Health Service to the civil service, to ministers in successive governments, at every level the people and institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way.
“They failed the victims and their families and they failed this country.”
He says that he “finds it almost impossible to comprehend” the gravity of many aspects of the scandal.
05:17 PM BST
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking now in the Commons
Stay here for the latest and watch live at the top of this page.
05:17 PM BST
Victim died five weeks before inquiry finished
Earlier, the chairman of the inquiry Sir Brian Langstaff marked how many victims of the scandal are not able to be in London for the release of the final report.
He said that “too many are too seriously ill as a result of their infections” to this day and “too many have died” before seeing justice.
At the end of his speech in Westminster, the former judge singled out Perry Evans who gave evidence to the inquiry when it began and managed to survive multiple setbacks in his health after being infected with HIV and hepatitis C from Factor VIII blood.
But tragically he died five weeks ago just before the inquiry concluded.
05:10 PM BST
Infected blood victims – in their words
Here’s what some of the victims of the scandal have had to say today.
Mel McKay, from Bridlington in East Yorkshire, who was given transfusion of infected blood during surgery at five-years-old, infected with HIV, said she “definitely” wants prosecutions to be pursued.
“I have not been able to fulfil my dreams and aspirations of becoming a paediatric nurse, but also I’ve not been able to fulfil having a relationship or a family of my own,” she said.
Ann Swan, from Rowde in Wiltshire, who was told she had hepatitis C after a blood transfusion in 1976 but there is no record of it.
She told Sky: “My records mysteriously disappeared… I wasn’t diagnosed until 1995 when I went into hospital for a comb biopsy and a huge ward of patients emptied out as the day went on and I was the last person in the ward… my GP said ‘oh now we know why you were ill all that time and at least you know what you’re going to die of’, lovely.”
Jackie Britton, from Fareham in Hampshire, contracted Hepatitis C in 1983 after receiving a blood transfusion during childbirth.
She said: “It vindicates my impression that the knowledge was out there, our government ignored it, couldn’t be bothered with it, found it was going to be too expensive – I don’t know what their excuses are but this blatantly in black and white says that they have no excuses, that every person who died from those times on could have been saved.”
04:07 PM BST
Rishi Sunak to address MPs
A reminder that the Prime Minister is due to deliver a statement to the Commons this afternoon about the infected blood inquiry.
As we reported on Sunday, he is expected to express regret and horror that successive governments have failed victims.
Mr Sunak is also expected to deliver the first formal government apology for the scandal.
The latest updates will be right here when he speaks.
03:57 PM BST
Ministers to be held to account
Sir Brian Langstaff vowed to “do what I properly can within my powers” to prevent “unreasonable delay” in the Government response to his report.
The report’s author said: “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 concluded 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.”
03:41 PM BST
Silence is worse than speaking up
Those responsible in the infected blood disaster should be blamed for keeping silent, Sir Brian Langstaff said as he listed his recommendations.
Where an individual is responsible for something going wrong “they should certainly be blamed if they keep silent” and be obliged to report “near misses” as well as actual wrongs, the inquiry chairman said.
Leaders in healthcare should be made subject to a statutory duty of candour, the regulatory landscape for patient safety should be “decluttered”, and the NHS should establish a safety management system, he added.
Measures recommended to end a “defensive culture” in the Civil service and Government include “a statutory duty of accountability on senior civil servants for the candour and completeness of advice” given to top officials and ministers in their responses of concerns raised by members of the public.
03:31 PM BST
Months were lost because of testing delays
Government claims in the 1990s that screening tests for HIV and hepatitis C were introduced as soon as the technology was available were “wrong,” Sir Brian Langstaff said.
“In the case of HIV, a test had been developed by August 1984 but was not introduced for the screening of blood donations until October 1985,” the infected blood inquiry chairman said.
“I have concluded that we lost months, for no clear reason, by delays and indecision when setting up a process to evaluate each available make of test. Yet a number were commercially available, and being used elsewhere in the world. Patients receiving transfusions in the UK were needlessly exposed to the risk of HIV as a result.
“In the case of Hepatitis C the delays were even worse: screening of blood donations was not introduced until September 1991. Even when a screening test was available, and approved, its use had to wait until all regions could introduce it on the same date – in other words, to go at the pace of the slowest.”
Sir Brian went on to list 23 countries where screening was available before the UK.
03:25 PM BST
Spotlight on Prof Arthur Bloom
A colleague of Professor Arthur Bloom, who was chairman of the haemophilia directors, is thought to be a whistleblower on the infected blood scandal, according to the Inquiry chairman.
Sir Brian Langstaff said Prof Bloom, who died many years ago, “must bear some of the responsibility for the UK’s slowness in responding to the risks of Aids to people with haemophilia”.
He said the Inquiry believes one of the sources for a 1983 Mail on Sunday story headlined “Hospitals using killer blood” was “Professor Bloom’s respected senior colleague in Cardiff, who was reluctant at the time to be identified as a whistleblower”.
Prof Bloom at the time said he was unaware of any proven case in the UK and there was no need to change their treatment, Sir Brian said, adding that “disastrously the Department of Health and Social Security was over-influenced by his advice, in particular his advice to continue importing commercial factor concentrates”.
03:23 PM BST
Basic ethical principles ignored
Sir Brian Langstaff said that “children and adults were not treated in a way that prioritised their safety above other considerations”.
He added: “Just as treatment choices by doctors mattered, so too did giving patients or their parents the information to make an informed decision about their treatment with blood or blood products so they knew what to be alert for if they were infected.
“Very early on in the Inquiry it became clear that most people were not told enough about the risks of treatment with blood or blood products to give informed consent – if indeed they were told anything. Nor were they given information about alternative treatments.
“And yet respecting people’s right to control what happens to their own body has always been an ethical cornerstone of medicine. Always.”
03:17 PM BST
Victim lost his twin brother on Christmas Day
Nigel Hamilton, chairman of Haemophilia Northern Ireland, lost his twin brother Simon on Christmas Day last year, lost two cousins in the last ten years and lost two friends in the last two months.
The 63-year-old has haemophilia and contracted Hepatitis C after receiving contaminated blood.
He told the BBC he was feeling a “cascade of different emotions” as he arrived in London for the publication of the report on Monday, including grief that his brother did not live to see this day.
03:08 PM BST
‘Justice now’ shout from audience
The inquiry’s chairman asks the audience to imagine the difference it would have made if it had been launched 30 years ago.
Sir Brian Langstaff is then interrupted by a man in the audience at Central Hall in Westminster who shouts, audibly angry: “Justice now! Justice now!”
That is accompanied by another round of applause.
“It may be late but it’s not too late — now is the time, finally, for national recognition of this disaster, for proper compensation and for vindication for all those who have been so terribly wronged,” Sir Brian concludes in his speech.
“That – that – is what my report amounts to. Thank you.”
03:01 PM BST
Apology must be accompanied by action
The Government’s apology this afternoon “should be accompanied by action,” Sir Brian continued.
“Action, obviously, to recognise and remember what happened to so many people, and to learn from the inquiry.
“Action to implement recommendations I made over a year ago to set up a proper compensation scheme.”
Sir Brian paused for applause a number of times.
02:57 PM BST
Government needs to explain why it is apologising
Ministers must explain what they are apologising for, not just say sorry, the inquiry’s chairman has said.
Sir Brian Langstaff said he “fully expects” the Government to apologise this afternoon, as is expected when the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks in the Commons.
But to a loud round of applause at Central Hall in Westminster, he warned: “To be meaningful though that apology must explain what the apology is for.”
The apology must admit errors and wrongdoing and “provide vindication for those who have waited so long and it should be accompanied by action”, he said.
02:40 PM BST
Poor record keeping contributed to blood disaster
“Poor record keeping” contributed to the contaminated blood disaster, Sir Brian Langstaff said.
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.”
02:39 PM BST
Blood donors should have been better selected
Sir Brian Langstaff said that blood donors should have been better selected.
“The blood used for transfusions and to make blood products in the UK was from British donors, who could and should have been better selected,” he said.
“For instance, in 1975 the chief medical officer for England said the practice of collecting blood in prisons could continue even though prisoners were known to have higher numbers of hepatitis infections – and this practice was not ended in the UK until 1984; no real efforts were made to prevent those who had used intravenous drugs – and who were therefore a higher risk of hepatitis – from donating blood; and the steps taken to keep donors who were more likely to be incubating Aids out of the donation chain were late in starting, and when they finally began were inadequate.”
02:38 PM BST
Successive governments compounded suffering
Successive governments and the health service compounded victims’ suffering, Infected Blood Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said.
In his statement, the former high court judge said: “The NHS and successive governments compounded the agony by refusing to accept that wrong had been done.
“More than that, the Government repeatedly maintained that people received the best available treatment and that testing of blood donations began as soon as the technology was available. And both claims were untrue.”
Sir Brian said the inquiry’s mission to prevent similar scandals is not only about “taking steps to meet any threat of a future infection carried by blood, blood products or tissue, but to ensure as far as we can that Government responds to the citizens it serves, how shall I put this, more appropriately”.
02:36 PM BST
Infections have impacted ‘every aspect’ of lives of victims
Sir Brian Langstaff said that infections have impacted “every aspect” of the lives of the affected.
“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.”
02:35 PM BST
Health leaders ‘did not put patient safety first’
Sir Brian Langstaff said that health leaders “did not put patient safety first”.
He said 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.
“And patients were simply not given the information they needed to make fully informed decisions about their own treatment.”
02:35 PM BST
Could have been fewer deaths if WHO guidance followed
There could have been fewer deaths if the UK had followed World Health Organisation guidance from 1952, the Infected Blood Inquiry said.
Sir Brian Langstaff said: “As long ago as 1952 the World Health Organisation identified how to reduce the risks of transmitting hepatitis through blood and blood products.
“UK medical and government advisors took a central part in this. There were four key measures highlighted by the World Health Organization on which, despite its involvement in identifying them, the United Kingdom fell short – the first was the selection of donors, the second was restricting the size of the pools used to make plasma products, the third was treating plasma products – for example with heat – to reduce infection, and the fourth maintaining good records and reporting infections.
“The key point is that if we had followed the World Health Organization’s advice, there would have been fewer infections from blood and from blood products and fewer deaths.”
02:32 PM BST
A number of failures contributed to infecting so many
Sir Brian Langstaff speaking following the release of the infected blood scandal report, said “a number of failures contributred to the infection of so many people”.
He said the UK’s failure to achieve self sufficiency and relience on imports was part of the issue.
Sir Brian added: “Continuing importation of products made from plasma collected before sfety measures were adopted”
02:17 PM BST
Sir Brian met with standing ovation following report
There was a standing ovation in Central Hall in Westminster and cheers around for Sir Brian Langstaff as he came to deliver his statement to victims of the infected blood scandal, including people who were infected with HIV and hepatitis, and those bereaved.
Sir Brian responded with a “no” and said it was for his “remarkable team”, and everyone in the room who had shared their accounts with him.
“This is your report,” he said. “The words come from you and your stories.”
The room stood in applause again, full of emotion at finally seeing this moment of justice.
Behind Sir Brian as he spoke was a temporary memorial to those who had been lost.
“This disaster was not an accident,” he said, to further applause
02:05 PM BST
Pupils treated as ‘objects’
Children were treated as “objects” of research at a boarding school where they suffered a “nightmare of tragic proportion” after being given disease ridden drugs, the Infected Blood Inquiry has found.
Young boys attending Lord Mayor Treloar College in Alton, Hampshire, were told in batches of five they had or had not tested positive for HIV in front of each other before being immediately sent back to class, writes Neil Johnston.
In other cases doctors at the specialist boarding school for children with physical disabilities, which had an onsite haemophilia centre, made the “unconscionable” decision not to tell pupils and parents they had tested positive for the disease at all.
From 1970 to 1987 pupils at the school a range of treatments using using a ‘miracle’ plasma product called Factor VIII which turned out to be a disease-ridden product sourced from US prisoners, sex workers and drug addicts, who were paid to give their blood.
Over 80 pupils from the school have died after contracting HIV and hepatitis C from infected blood products and only 30 out of 122 boys treated for hemophilia at the school are still alive.
02:00 PM BST
‘Sunak’s Government compounded suffering of victims’
Rishi Sunak’s Government has compounded the suffering of the victims of the infected blood scandal with the “sluggish pace” and lack of transparency on compensation, an inquiry into the disaster in the NHS has found.
The Prime Minister’s insistence on waiting for the conclusion of the Infected Blood Inquiry before making a final decision on redress has “perpetuated the injustice for victims”, its chairman, Sir Brian Langstaff, said in his final report.
He criticised the “litany of failures” by successive governments from the early 1970s, with no action taken even as it became known that the collection of blood from prisons led to an increased risk of hepatitis transmission.
In recent years, ministers are accused in Sir Brian’s report of “working at a sluggish pace” on the question of compensation.
01:53 PM BST
How a ‘wonder drug’ ruined thousands of lives in infected blood scandal
A “wonder drug” that turned out to be a deadly poison should never have been used on NHS patients, a report into the infected blood scandal has found.
Thousands of people were infected with chronic and often fatal viruses which were covered up over a period of four decades, the report, released on Monday, said.
Read the full story here.
01:43 PM BST
NHS culture change needed
A “culture change” is needed across the NHS to prevent cover-ups and to acknowledge mistakes, with individual managers held personally accountable if they fail to take action, the Infected Blood Inquiry has recommended.
Following the publication of his report into the treatment disaster, Sir Brian Langstaff said his main point remained that a compensation scheme was needed now for all those affected by the scandal.
But, he said repeated inquiries and reports have highlighted how the culture of the NHS needs to shift to one where mistakes are recognised and there is openness and transparency. He said there was a need for culture change “such that safety is embedded as a first principle, and is regarded as an essential measure of the quality of care”.
He added: “Though performance, efficiency, and expense are all important, it should be the safety of care in any health institution that is the aspect in which all its staff take particular pride.”
01:37 PM BST
Lord Clarke misled the public over infected blood risks, report finds
Lord Clarke of Nottingham misled the public by saying there was “no conclusive proof” that Aids could not be spread through blood, an inquiry has found.
The damning Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report, published on Monday, found that the line, which was said in summer 1983 and parrotted for several years, was “indefensible”.
Read the full story here.
01:31 PM BST
Watch: Victim comments on report
Mark Ward, a victim of the infected blood scandal, comments on the inquiry’s report into the disaster.
01:24 PM BST
Delays mean those responsible will never see justice
Slow progress on the infected blood scandal means that many of those responsible will never see justice, victims of the disaster said.
Clive Smith, The Haemophilia Society chairman, said: “One of the aspects that sadly, the delay has caused, is the fact that there are doctors out there who should have been prosecuted for manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, doctors who were testing their patients for HIV without consent, not telling them about their infections.
“Those people should have been in the dock for both gross negligence manslaughter. And sadly, because of the delay, that’s one of the consequences that so many people will not see justice as a result.”
Andy Evans, chairman of the Tainted Blood campaign group, added: “This has gone on for so long now that people that were around at the time will be very hard to track down if they’re even still alive.”
The delay “really is in this case, justice denied,” he said.
01:14 PM BST
Blood disaster is ‘no accident’ says inquiry chairman
Sir Brian Langstaff, Inquiry chairman, 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.”
01:09 PM BST
Politicians should hang their heads in shame
Many politicians “should hang their heads in shame,” Clive Smith, chairman of The Haemophilia Society, said.
He told a press conference: “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.”
01:05 PM BST
Victims ‘gaslit for generations’
Andy Evans, of campaign group Tainted Blood, told a press conference at Central Hall: “We have been gaslit for generations.
“This report today brings an end to that. It looks to the future as well and says this cannot continue, this ethos of denial and cover up.”
He 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.”
01:03 PM BST
No surprise about evidence of a cover up, say campaigners
Campaigners have said the finding in the Infected Blood Inquiry final report that there is evidence of a cover-up is “no surprise”.
Clive Smith, from the Haemophilia Society, said: “To our community that is no surprise. We have known that for decades and now the country knows and now the world knows as well.”
He added that it was “systemic”.
01:02 PM BST
Victims feel ‘validated and vindicated’
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.”
01:01 PM BST
Watch: Infected blood disaster was no accident, says Sir Brian Langstaff
Sir Brian Langstaff, the chairman of the Infected Blood Inquiry, said the infected blood disaster was no accident.
He said people who had placed their trust in doctors had been betrayed.
In the report into the scandal, he set out 12 recommendations for the government to implement within the next 12 months.
12:59 PM BST
Recommendation 12: Acting on findings from inquiry
The Government should consider and commit to recommendations made in the report within a year.
If a recommendation is not implemented, a reason should be given as to why it was not considered appropriate.
12:59 PM BST
Recommendation 11: Responding to calls for public inquiry
A minister should retain the power to call an inquiry as they see fit.
12:59 PM BST
Recommendation 10: Giving patients a voice
Patients should be empowered and given a voice through surveys, charities and specialist organisations.
12:58 PM BST
Recommendation nine: Safe haemophilia care
The peer review of haemophilia care should continue with any necessary support being provided by NHS Trusts and Health Boards.
12:58 PM BST
Recommendation eight: Finding the undiagnosed
When doctors become aware a patient has had a blood transfusion before 1996, that patient should be offered a blood test for Hepatitis C.
12:55 PM BST
Recommendation seven: Blood transfusion safety
Steps should be taken to ensure that consideration of tranexamic acid be on every hospital surgical checklist in England.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland offering the use of tranexamic acid should be considered as a treatment of preference in respect of all eligible surgery.
Tranexamic acid is a medication used to treat or prevent excessive blood loss.
12:54 PM BST
Recommendation six: Monitoring liver damage for infected people
All patients who have contracted hepatitis via a blood transfusion or blood products and have cirrhosis or fibrosis should receive lifetime monitoring.
Where there is any uncertainty about whether a patient has fibrosis they should receive the same care. Those with Hepatitis C should be seen by a consultant hepatologist.
12:53 PM BST
Recommendation five: Ending defensive culture in Civil Service
The government should introduce a statutory duty of accountability on senior civil servants for the candour and completeness of advice given to Permanent Secretaries and Ministers.
12:52 PM BST
Recommendation four: Preventing future harm
A statutory duty of candour in healthcare should be introduced in Northern Ireland and reviewed in Scotland and Wales as it is in England.
Move away from a culture of defensiveness and lack of openness which has led to patient concerns being dismissed.
External regulation of healthcare should be simplified. Patient record keeping should be digitised and improved.
12:51 PM BST
Recommendation three: Learning
The General Medical Council, and NHS Education for Scotland, Health Education and Improvement Wales, Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency and NHS England, should take steps to ensure that lessons are learned with measures incorporated into clinical practice.
12:49 PM BST
Recommendation two: Remembering
A permanent memorial should be established in the UK with consideration given to memorials in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
The design and location of the memorials should be decided by a memorial committee consisting of people infected and affected and representatives of the governments.
12:46 PM BST
Recommendation one: Compensation
The principal recommendation of the report is for a compensation scheme to be set up.
12:45 PM BST
Key findings
Following the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry report, the key findings are:
Sir Brian Langstaff, who chaired the five-year inquiry into the NHS’s worst treatment disaster, said doctors, civil servants and ministers had “closed ranks” to hide the truth for decades.
He said the “horrifying” scandal could and should have been avoided.
A “catalogue of failures” led to “calamity” resulting in more than 3,000 patients dying or suffering miserably as a result of being given contaminated blood products that infected them with HIV and Hepatitis.
12:38 PM BST
Contaminated blood disaster ongoing
Publishing the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, chairman Sir Brian Langstaff 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.”
12:36 PM BST
Key recommendations from the report
The Infected Blood Inquiry report lays out 12 key recommendations.
It states the government should either implement these within a year or provide a reason as to why they have not.
They are as follows:
-
A compensation scheme should be set up
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Recognising and remembering what happened to people
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Learning from the Inquiry
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Preventing future harm to patients through a culture of safety
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Ending a defensive culture in the Civil Service and government
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Monitoring liver damage for people who were infected with Hepatitis C.
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Blood transfusions patient safety
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Finding the undiagnosed
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Protecting the safety of haemophilia care
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Giving patients a voice
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Responding to calls for a public inquiry
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Implementing recommendations of Inquiry
12:34 PM BST
Analysis: Infected Blood Inquiry report damning
The Infected Blood Inquiry has today released a damning report that says the UK should have never treated NHS patients with dangerous American Factor VIII.
Right from the start, the government should have intervened to stop the poison line from taking hold. Had that happened, the infection of thousands of people with HIV and hepatitis by Factor VIII would have been avoided.
Compounding the harm was a cover-up that spanned decades.
The report is a scathing indictment of the infected blood scandal and reflects the layers of mistakes I’ve heard from victims, doctors, lawyers, whistleblowers and politicians over the last five years. I hope the government and public take notice.
12:30 PM BST
NHS and government led ‘chilling’ cover-up of infected blood scandal, inquiry finds
The NHS and the government took part in a “chilling” cover-up of the infected blood scandal that has claimed more than 3,000 lives, a public inquiry has concluded.
Sir Brian Langstaff, who chaired the five-year inquiry into the NHS’s worst treatment disaster, said doctors, civil servants and ministers had “closed ranks” to hide the truth for decades.
He said the “horrifying” scandal could and should have been avoided, but a “catalogue of failures” led to “calamity”.
Between 1970 and 1998 more than 3,000 patients “died or suffered miserably” as a result of being given contaminated blood products that infected them with HIV and Hepatitis.
The tragedy happened because medics and successive governments “did not put patient safety first”. When the scandal was exposed, “the response of those in authority served to compound people’s suffering”, Sir Brian said.
He added: “I have to report that it could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided. And I have to report that it should have been.”
Read the report in full.
12:03 PM BST
Chairman of the Infected Blood Inquiry outside Central Hall in Westminster
11:48 AM BST
Rise in requests for hepatitis C tests amid concern over infected blood scandal
There has been a sharp rise in the number of people getting tested for Hepatitis C amid concern over the infected blood scandal, according to a charity.
The surge has been particularly pronounced in the run-up to the publication of the final report on the scandal.
The Hepatitis C Trust says 12,800 people asked the NHS for home-testing kits in little more than a week. That compares with just 2,300 for the whole of last month, according to figures the charity shared with the BBC.
Read the full story here.
11:31 AM BST
Blair and Brown ‘knew about scandal and did nothing’
Paul Johnson, director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said Tony Blair and Gordon Brown knew about the infected blood scandal when they were in office and “deliberately decided not to do anything about it”.
He told Times Radio: “I worked in the Treasury back in the mid 2000s, this was under New Labour. This was Gordon Brown as chancellor, Tony Blair as prime minister, and ministers back then were perfectly well aware of this and quite deliberately decided not to do things to help.
“I mean, I think this really has been probably the most appalling miscarriage and there have been quite a lot that I can think of.”
11:08 AM BST
Justice needed swiftly, says government
Speaking ahead of the final report, a government spokesman said: “This was an appalling tragedy that never should have happened.
“We are clear that justice needs to be done and swiftly, which is why we have acted in amending the Victims and Prisoners Bill.
“This includes establishing a new body to deliver an Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, confirming the Government will make the required regulations for it within three months of royal assent, and that it will have all the funding needed to deliver compensation once they have identified the victims and assessed claims.
“In addition, we have included a statutory duty to provide additional interim payments to the estates of deceased infected people.
“We will continue to listen carefully to the community as we address this dreadful scandal.”
10:45 AM BST
Importance of report ‘cannot be overestimated’
Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, which represents 1,500 victims, said the importance of the final report to victims of the scandal “cannot be overestimated”.
“They have spent years bravely telling their stories, campaigning and spurring collective action in order to get to this point. For some it has been 40 years since their lives were forever blighted or loved ones were lost in cruel circumstances,” he said.
“Several thousands, sadly, have not lived to see this day.”
Mr Collins described the publication of the report as the “day of truth”, adding: “They will finally achieve recognition of all they have experienced and will learn, as a matter of public record, how and why the infected blood scandal occurred.”
10:30 AM BST
Radical change needed after inquiry
There must be “radical change” as a result of the Infect Blood Inquiry, campaigners have said.
Kate Burt, the chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, said: “Radical change must result from this inquiry if we are to learn the lessons of the past and protect future generations from harm.”
Richard Angell, chief executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “The publication of the final Infected Blood Inquiry report is a seismic moment for those infected and affected by this scandal who have been vindicated but not yet compensated.
“For victims of the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, who have been fighting for justice for almost five decades, the trauma never stops.”
10:09 AM BST
‘End of 40-year fight’
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.
The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, has previously said that “wrongs were done at individual, collective and systemic levels”.
Campaigners have hailed the publication of the report as the “end of a 40-year fight”.
Rachel Halford, chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust, said: “We would not be where we are today without the community’s decades of tireless campaigning for answers.
“We hope that today’s report marks the beginning of the end of this long campaign for justice for everyone who has been impacted by infected blood and blood products.”
10:04 AM BST
Infected blood victims and families gather before report release
09:57 AM BST
Victims nervous ahead of report
Victims of the infected blood scandal have described feeling “emotional and nervous” as the final report into the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS is due to be published.
The Infected Blood Inquiry will conclude today after decades of “tireless” work by campaigners.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is widely expected to issue an apology following the publication of the report, which will lay bare the scale of the failings.
It has been estimated that one person dies as a result of infected blood every four days.
The inquiry was first announced by former prime minister Theresa May in 2017, with the first official hearing held on April 20 2019.
09:44 AM BST
Infected Blood inquiry – will new report finally bring justice for victims? | The Daily T podcast
The Infected Blood Scandal is described as the “worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS”.
It resulted in thousands of people in the UK in the 70s and 80s being given blood transfusions or blood products that were infected with viruses such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV. Thousands died after being given contaminated products by the NHS.
As the public inquiry releases its final report, Kamal Ahmed and Camilla Tominey are joined on The Daily T by the host of Telegraph podcast Bed of Lies, and author of The Poison Line, Cara McGoogan, who has spent years covering the scandal, speaking to those who have been impacted by it.
Watch the The Daily T podcast here.
09:38 AM BST
Haemophilia explained
09:36 AM BST
What is the Infected Blood Inquiry?
The inquiry has looked at the contaminated blood scandal where blood transfusions and medicines for people with blood disorders, such as haemophiliacs, contracted HIV and hepatitis from their treatments in the 70s and 80s.
British haemophiliacs were prescribed drugs made from the donated blood plasma of US citizens. These people were paid for their donations and many were at high risk of having infections.
Gay men, sex workers, homeless people, drug addicts and prisoners all donated blood which was not treated and sold to the NHS.
The miracle drug given to haemophiliacs, Factor VIII, fixed their condition, but Around 1,250 haemophiliacs contracted HIV from their medicine, and three-quarters have died. A further 5,000 were infected with hepatitis C.
Around 380 children contracted HIV during the scandal.
09:31 AM BST
Telegraph View: Justice long overdue for blood scandal victims
The final report of the inquiry into the infected blood scandal will be published today.
Ministers are expected to announce a second “interim” payment for the worst affected victims, and for the first time issue an apology for its errors and the suffering caused.
Widely considered the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, the victims of the scandal were given blood transfusions or products in the 1970s and 1980s that carried viruses including hepatitis C and HIV.
Read the full article here.
09:30 AM BST
Infected blood scandal victim: ‘I feel survivor’s guilt’
A victim of the infected blood scandal has said his “survivor’s guilt” will stay with him for the rest of his life.
Martin Reid was infected with hepatitis C as a child by contaminated medicine he was given for haemophilia, a genetic blood-clotting deficiency which can lead to fatal internal bleeds.
Around 3,000 people also given the Factor VIII medication by the NHS have since died, because it was tainted with HIV and hepatitis C.
Read the full story here.
09:27 AM BST
Infected Blood Inquiry: worst treatment disaster in history of NHS
Contaminated blood products and transfusions have caused at least 2,900 deaths since the 1970s and 80s.
Up to 1,250 people with haemophilia contracted HIV after treatment with a “miracle” plasma product called Factor VIII, around 380 of whom were children.
As many as 5,000 more contracted hepatitis C, along with further infections of hepatitis B and exposure to vCJD.
In a parallel disaster also investigated by the Inquiry, some 26,800 people received hepatitis C from blood transfusions before testing began in 1991, hundreds of whom may have the virus and still not know. At least 79 people contracted HIV from a blood transfusion.
Haemophilia is a genetic bleeding disorder that commonly passes from mothers to sons, leaving people deficient in the protein needed to form blood clots, called factor VIII.
Read the full story here.
09:19 AM BST
The latest from the Infected Blood Inquiry
Good morning and welcome to The Telegraph’s coverage of the infected blood scandal.
The Infected Blood Inquiry is to release a report at 12.30pm today, following its five year investigation into the mistakes that led to thousands of people being infected with chronic and fatal viruses.
The Telegraph’s Cara McGoogan is at Central Hall, Westminster, for the publication of the document today.
Gordon Rayner, associate editor, and Joe Pinkstone, science correspondent, are reporting on the findings.
Follow this blog for the latest updates.
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