What we know about 'chilling' infected blood scandal cover-up

The infected blood scandal could "have been been avoided" and there was a "chilling" cover-up to hide the truth, including the destruction of vital documents, a report has found.

More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C while they were receiving NHS care between the 1970s and 1990s, in a disaster described by inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff as a “calamity”.

The 2,527-page Infected Blood Inquiry report said there were deliberate attempts to conceal the scandal by the NHS and the government, including evidence of Whitehall officials destroying documents.

Langstaff said “the scale of what happened is horrifying”, with more than 3,000 people dead as a result and survivors battling for decades to uncover the truth.

Addressing the Commons on Monday, prime minister Rishi Sunak apologised and promised that those affected by the scandal would be compensated and that nothing like this would happen again.

"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 that people and institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way," he said.

Yahoo News UK looks at what we learned from the report into the biggest treatment scandal in the history of the NHS.

What is the infected blood scandal?

Tens of thousands of people in the UK were infected with HIV and/or hepatitis after they were given contaminated blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s.

These include people who needed blood transfusions for accidents, in surgery or during childbirth, and patients with certain blood disorders who were treated with donated blood plasma or blood transfusions.

Watch: Government 'compounded agony' of contaminated blood scandal victims

About 3,000 people have died and others have been left with lifelong health complications – it is estimated that one person dies as a result of infected blood every four days.

There are two main groups of victims – people who needed blood transfusions and people with bleeding disorders who needed blood, or blood products, as part of their treatment.

Many victims had bleeding disorders, particularly people with the condition haemophilia, an inherited disorder where the blood does not clot properly. Most people with the condition have a shortage of the protein that enables human blood to clot, known as Factor VIII.

In the 1970s, a new treatment was developed – factor concentrate – to replace the missing clotting agent, which was made from donated human blood plasma.

Manufacturers made the product by pooling plasma from tens of thousands of people – increasing the risk of the product containing blood infected with viruses including hepatitis and HIV.

A shortage of UK-produced factor concentrate meant clinicians relied on imports from the US, where people in prisons were paid to be donors, despite being at higher risk of carrying infection.

People with haemophilia were treated with British and US blood products.

What did the report say about a cover-up?

The report highlighted how “the truth has been hidden for decades” and there was evidence of Department of Health documents being “marked” for destruction in 1993.

It stated: “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.”

According to the report, there was a deliberate decision to destroy Department of Health files which contained material dealing with delays in the introduction of screening blood donations for hepatitis C.

The files, which related to decision-making of the Advisory Committee on the Virological Safety of Blood (ACVSB), were marked for destruction in 1993.

“The destruction was not an accident, nor the result of flood, fire or vermin,” Langstaff wrote. “The immediate reason for destruction was human choice. Someone, for some reason, had chosen to have those documents destroyed.”

“It is an uncomfortable conclusion that it is more likely than not that a civil servant chose to destroy the documents because they were those documents: but if that is what the evidence amounts to, it is the conclusion that must follow.

“In short, it is on this basis more likely than not that the authorisation to destroy the (ACVSB) files was because the documents contained material dealing with delays in the UK to the introduction of screening of blood donations for hepatitis C, which was anticipated (or known) to be a live issue at the time.

“If this is right, it was a deliberate attempt to make the truth more difficult to reveal.”

The report also explored the destruction and disappearance of medical records from hospitals, GPs and health boards. It told of the “emotional toll” people went through trying to obtain records, making reference to a woman who described trying to get her late father’s medical records as “like a battle of wills”.

The report concluded that it is likely records went missing because of a “mixture of incompetence, a lack of proper systems, and the problems inherent in keeping paper records”.

Langstaff wrote: “Although there is suspicion that some health authorities or individuals reacted in a similar manner to what was happening around them, by hiding, removing or destroying some records that might be an embarrassment, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that a finding to this effect is justified across the board."

Campaigners said the finding that there is evidence of a cover-up was far from a 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.

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

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.”

How much will be paid in compensation?

Ministers have earmarked about £10bn for a compensation package for those affected, which is expected to be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The lack of medical records has made it difficult for some to apply for compensation.

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”.