Northamptonshire mum of infected blood victim says she wants 'closure'

Rosemary Calder has been speaking to us as the inquiry into the infected blood scandal concluded it was "no accident"

Author: Trevor ThomasPublished 21st May 2024

Rosemary Calder's son Nicky contracted Hepatis C and HIV after he was given contaminated blood in his treatment for Haemophilia as a child.

He contracted Hepatis C and HIV and passed away 25 years ago in 1999, leaving behind a wife and son.

The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has now offered a "whole-hearted" apology to the many victims of the scandal.

It follows the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry which identified a catalogue of failures by the NHS and successive governments.

More than 30-thousand people in all received contaminated blood and associated products from the 1970s to the early 90s - around three-thousand like Nicky have died.

Rosemary spoke to us after the publication of the report on Monday May 20th.

"I want a drawing of a line under this particular episode so that hopefully we can move on and have a bit of peace knowing that those who did so much wrong, and have constantly denied it for years and years, will be held accountable.

"We had to live with secrecy and stigma. We couldn't tell our friends and family, but now the whole world can know."

Today (Tuesday 21st May) we're expected to hear more about plans to compensate victims of the infected blood scandal.

Rishi Sunak's promised to pay 'whatever it costs' to tens of thousands of people who contracted infections from contaminated blood products.

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