Infected Blood report

The Scotsman

The Infected Blood Inquiry has been published, here's Alexander Brown with the latest. He talks about one of the most harrowing issues and damning reports he's ever seen in his role as Westminster correspondent.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:09 Hello, my name is Alexander Brown.

00:10 I'm a Scotsman's Westminster correspondent.

00:12 And I'm here in London where the long-awaited infected blood

00:16 inquiry has finally published its report.

00:19 In a 2,527-page document, the inquiry found the scandal could

00:24 largely have been avoided.

00:25 And also, most damningly, there was a pervasive cover-up

00:29 to hide the truth of what is, by a margin, the biggest

00:33 disaster in NHS history.

00:36 Having spent, I would say, the last four hours reading this

00:39 report in the building behind you in a closed press room, I

00:41 can tell you it is absolutely harrowing and one of the most

00:44 damning things I've ever seen in this job.

00:47 It found patients were knowingly exposed to risk of

00:49 infection, knowingly, with more than 3,000 people now

00:53 dead as a result.

00:55 It also found a cover-up that saw successive governments

00:58 insist patients had received the best possible medical

01:01 treatment at the time, which we now know for a fact was not

01:04 true, and which the government at the

01:05 time knew was not true.

01:08 Patients were also told they were not at risk of infection.

01:10 They were told they were getting the safest treatment.

01:13 They were not even told they were being tested for AIDS or

01:15 HIV, with parents kept in the dark, even as their children

01:18 were being diagnosed with illnesses that would kill them.

01:21 This is children being given this dangerous blood that they

01:25 did not need and they did not know was dangerous.

01:27 They just weren't told about it.

01:29 More broadly, the report found tests of blood were too slow

01:32 to be introduced.

01:33 People weren't told for years that they were sick.

01:35 And then patients were treated without consent.

01:37 And the children, obviously, as many people were given

01:39 treatment they didn't need.

01:40 I mean, this is universal throughout this whole period.

01:43 And these dangerous blood products are being used, with

01:45 the NHS continuing to import from high-risk donors rather

01:48 than create their own safe supply.

01:50 And this included using blood from prison inmates and drug

01:53 users, which they knew and had been

01:54 advised was more dangerous.

01:56 That's something they just simply ignored.

01:58 The report has now called for compensation and memorials

02:01 to those affected, and for lessons to be

02:04 learned from the disaster.

02:05 We'll be hearing later today from the victims.

02:08 We'll be hearing from the experts and those involved in

02:10 the inquiry, and the Prime Minister as well.

02:12 So for all that and more, stay tuned to thescotsman.com.

02:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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