Science & Environment

By Mark Langabeer, Hastings and Rye Labour member

The BBC Panorama programme on Monday May 14 looked at the scandal of the infected blood given to haemophiliacs and others, for which there has still been no satisfactory answers.

Reporter, Jim Reed, interviewed one family who lost their son as a result of contracting HIV from infected blood. The boy suffered from haemophilia, which causes a failure of blood to clot normally and until the 1970s , haemophiliacs would have to be admitted to hospital for treatment.

This changed with the discovery of what is called Blood Factor V111. This allowed those with haemophilia to be treated at home and it was regarded as a major improvement in medical care. But due to increased demand, the NHS were forced to look abroad for blood, in particular in the USA and so half of blood supplies, with Factor V111 came from America . 

The programme reported that 30,000  were infected with either Hepatitis C or HIV and it is described as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history. On the 1,250 infected with HIV, 380 were children, so most of those infected died at a young age. In the US, blood donors were paid to give blood and they were often from the most vulnerable and desperate sections of society, including drug addicts and prison inmates. There appeared to be little in the way of screening blood supplies and there was little understanding of HIV and its infectivity in the late 70s and early 80s.

Early warnings even in the 1980s

However, there were warnings about the effects of using US blood from American health officials. By the early 80s there was indications from UK specialists that US blood donations could pass on HIV. However, the Health Department insisted that there was no conclusive proof that this was happening.

The NHS management line was echoed by Kenneth Clarke, then Health Secretary, at the Public Inquiry was set up in 2018. Incredibly, the final report of the Inquiry has still to be published, but the head of the Inquiry had already taken the unusual step of advising that interim compensation be paid to those that suffered, and their families.

This scandal started over 40 years ago and those who were traumatized by it are still demanding answers today. There was always a stigma attached to anyone who contracted HIV; it was described as the ‘gay plague’ by many right-wing newspapers and the families of those infected were also often shunned by neighbors and the wider community.

There are some parallels with the Post Office submasters and the Windrush scandals. In all of these cases, innocent victims of injustice have still to receive compensation. The Tories make noises about it, but in every instance they have been dragging their feet in compensating victims. As one of its priorities, Labour should commit that past these injustices are properly acknowledged and compensation given as a matter of urgency.

 The Panorama programme is available to view on BBC i-player, here.