The Infected Blood Scandal – and how bureaucrats are compounding the injustice
In 2017 I sat in the dining room of man named John surrounded by boxes and boxes of files. They charted his medical history over the past forty years – including the batch number of the contaminated blood he was given in 1982 by the NHS that gave him Hepatitis C. Tearfully, John and his wife told me how the blood he was given during a vasectomy ruined his health, his career and almost ended his marriage. He developed cirrhosis and then cancer of the liver. They told me about the devastating wait to find out if John had HIV as well, and if he had infected his wife. The stress of his situation and his illnesses lead to depression.
John’s story is not unique. He was one of thousands given infected blood products by the NHS in the 1970s and 80s. A new clotting treatment called Factor8 was being used and included huge batches of blood from dozens of donors which was all mixed together. It only took one infected donation to contaminate the whole batch, which was then used to treat dozens of people, many haemophiliacs. Factor8 was being imported from America where donors were paid and a lot of the blood was from drug addicts and prisoners who needed the money. It was big business.
Holding those in power to account has always been a major motivator for me when it comes to my journalism. I feel a moral responsibility to help people tell their stories. Everyone deserves to be heard, no-one more-so than the victims of the infected blood scandal. How did so many people become infected with HIV, Hepatitis and other infections through NHS treatment? Who knew and when? Why did it take so long for anything to be done? Why are they still waiting for justice?
Meeting John and his wife sparked a determination in me to help them and others like them. It was at their house I met solicitor Des Collins who was starting a group action on behalf of the victims and their families to force the government to hold a public inquiry. Later I met Jason Evans whose father died when he was just four years old. Bereft and angry, he wanted answers and he wanted people held to account. He started a campaign group called Factor8 to make that happen.
I followed their story through the years. I convinced my editor to let me travel to the High Court in London where they argued their case for a public inquiry. Our newsroom at BBC Oxford had scant resources and deploying a reporter and camera crew to London for the day meant we were not available to be redeployed if there was breaking news in Oxfordshire, Berkshire or Buckinghamshire. The Oxford Haemophilia Centre was a centre of excellence and in the 1970s and 80s people travelled miles to be treated there so it was a hotspot from which contaminated blood was distributed. I argued the case that we should go. Being at the High Court and attending the Inquiry when I could was important to me. If I could play a small part in highlighting their cause then I would.
Granting permission in 2017 for a public inquiry, the then Prime Minister Teresa May called it “an appalling tragedy that should never have happened”. The Inquiry revealed devastating facts about people in the medical profession who knew the blood products were contaminated but continued to give them. The Inquiry heard about the dozens of children at Treloars School who were infected in the 1970s and whose families were not immediately told they had HIV. The majority of them are dead.
Sir Brian Langstaff, the chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry, gave an interim report in April 2023 specifically to deal with compensation which he said should “begin now”. Sir Robert Francis QC had already on behalf of the government written a detailed study and framework for the compensation. Why then are hundreds of people who are entitled to compensation still waiting? Government after government has shut down the victims of this scandal time and time again. Why are they still having to fight? The Infected Blood Inquiry has been unexpectedly called back into session with Ministers and Senior Officials expected to be called to give evidence under oath. The timetable for the additional hearings will be published on Tuesday (4th July 2023).
Pictured: Jason Evans with his father who died when Jason was four years old
My guests Jason Evans and Des Collins have worked tirelessly to right the wrongs of the infected blood scandal. They need be heard. Listen to their stories on my podcast Angela Walker In Conversation INFECTED BLOOD SCANDAL. If you have enjoyed reading this article please share it on social media so others can too.
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