The inquiry chair Sir Brian Langstaff for the infected blood scandal has found that it was “not an accident” and the department health workers “deliberately” destroyed documents in a “pervasive cover-up.”
Sir Brian found that “successive government, the NHS and blood services” are responsible for failures.
The public inquiry found the government along with the NHS “compounded” victim’s suffering with their response that includes the “deliberate destruction of some documents,” by health workers.
Sir Brian said this was a “pervasive cover-up” with “downright deception.”
Sir Brian’s key findings found that patients were knowingly exposed to the risk of infections and that it was well known of the risk of blood products prior to many patients being treated.
Transfusions were done when not required and that imported blood products were unsafe and should never have been licensed here in the UK.
The public inquiry found there was no contract tracing undertaking when screenings for Hepatitis C were introduced.
There were repeated failures by successive governments and the NHS in responding to those who should have never been infected.
The governments and the NHS are accused of repeatedly misleading infected patients with defensive comments and people were “cruelly” told that they were receiving “the best treatment” under Margret Thatcher’s government, however this was a lie.
The governments had refused to set up a public inquiry until 2017 and there has been constant refusals to provide people with the compensation they deserve.
Sir Brian described the “scale of what happened is horrifying” as over 3,000 people died.
The report also stated, “Lord Winston famously called these events ‘the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS’. I have to report that it could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided.”
It added that “the truth has been hidden for decades” as there was evidence that in 1993 the Department of Health documents were “marked” to be destroyed.
“Viewing the response of the NHS and of government overall, the answer to the question ‘Was there a cover-up?’ is that there has been,” it reads.
“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 said in a statement: “In families across the UK, people were treated by the NHS and over 30,000 were given infections which were life-shattering. Three thousand people have already died and that number is climbing week by week. Lives, dreams, friendships, families, finances were destroyed.
“This disaster was not an accident. The infections happened because those in authority – doctors, the blood services and successive governments – did not put patient safety first. The response of those in authority served to compound people’s suffering.
“The Government is right to accept that compensation must be paid. Now is the time for national recognition of this disaster and for proper compensation to all who have been wronged.”
Speaking ahead of the inquiry, 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.
“We will continue to listen carefully to the community as we address this dreadful scandal.”
Rachel Halford, chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust, said: “After decades of relentless campaigning, this community finally has answers in black and white. Systemic, collective and individual failings and cover-ups have led to one of the gravest disasters this country has ever seen.
“Among its shocking findings, the report has brought to light evidence that much more could have been done to prevent hepatitis C and HIV infections from blood and blood products, and to help those infected. But, far beyond these failings, it makes clear that people – including many children – were deliberately given deadly viruses, treated as ‘objects for research’.
“Over decades, instead of acting to protect people, the Government and the health system have sought to delay, defer, and hide the truth from the people they’d harmed.
“They must now take full responsibility. We urge the Government to stop its endless delays and to act.”
