Bereaved families in Surrey wait for contaminated blood report
The inquiry has been looking into infected blood being given to patients
An inquiry that looked into tens of thousands of people being infected with HIV and hepatitis C through infected blood and blood products in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s is delivering its final report today.
The Infected Blood Inquiry has been investigating what has been dubbed the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.
The Inquiry, which was ordered almost seven years ago by then Prime Minister Theresa May, has heard evidence from those people directly affected as well as medical experts and people who were involved at the time.
It has already made its final recommendations on compensation for victims and their loved ones
Sir Brian Langstaff, Chair of the Inquiry said:
"The Inquiry’s final recommendations on compensation were published in April 2023. My principal recommendation remains that a compensation scheme should be set up with urgency. No-one should be in any doubt about the serious nature of the failings over more than six decades that have led to catastrophic loss of life and compounded suffering.”
Affected families say they are still suffering
Families of victims of the contaminated blood scandal have described how they continued to suffer in the years after losing their loved ones, as they await the final report of the independent inquiry.
Brian Moore lost his mother, Irene Moore, in 1998 after she developed cancer of the bile duct and recalled the “wreckage” of her body on her deathbed as he insisted he and his family were “still suffering”.
In 2008, six siblings lost their brother, Peter Lloyd, who had liver cancer, and his sisters have told of their lasting anger over his sickness and death.
Ms Moore and Mr Lloyd were both infected with hepatitis C (hep C) after receiving transfusions of contaminated blood years before their deaths.
Ms Moore was 80 when she died, but her son Brian said she still “missed out on an awful lot in life”.
The family only realised “after a while” that hep C was the “ingredient that brought about all this” and that she had been infected by the blood transfusion in 1986.
Mr Moore has been involved in the inquiry and has shared his mother’s story at meetings involving others affected.
Asked what he was hoping for out of the final report, he told PA: “I want it just to be put in black and white that this should not have happened. It was avoidable.
“It was horrendous. An awful lot of people have suffered, we’re still suffering.
“Whenever it’s mentioned on the news, well then there you go again and you’re or thinking about those days, those horrible, horrendous days, and then that bit of newsworthiness is over and a couple of days later you start to come down again and get into your way of natural living.
“And I wish to god it was all over. I just wish it was all over.”
Infection impacted everyday life
Melanie Richmond Walters believes she was infected with Hepatitis C after being Factor VIII as part of treatment for von Willebrand's disease in 1989.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, she said she wasn't aware of how dangerous the infection was until her second child was born.
"It took the entire joy out of having a new baby away from me, I spent years thinking I was going to die."
She added she was worried about who might care for her two children after her husband left her following her infection.
Ms Richmond Walters said she was also stigmatised, including being refused treatment by the NHS for an endoscopy, and being given different cups at school events.
She's calling for compensation for the "lives and careers lost", and mental health impacts suffered.
"We are all hoping that the parents who lost children are recognised and given compensation, and the children who lost parents are recognised and given compensation."
The final report is due to be published at 12.30pm.