Press release - 13th November 2012

HOW MANY DID THE NHS REALLY INFECT AND KILL WITH CONTAMINATED BLOOD?

IN a move described by campaigners as encouraging, Lord Penrose today agreed to except further written evidence for his official inquiry in Scotland regarding the thousands of haemophiliacs infected and killed by contaminated blood products in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Other victims of disasters have the right to be identified as such, but queries over the statistics which have been used over the decades are only now going to be fully investigated, following the announcement of the decision after a hearing on Monday 29th October. Lawyers were arguing that many have been infected and some died without accurate details being recorded.      

                                                                        
These doubts over the veracity of the same figures which have long been quoted by the Westminster Government to justify its actions, will have major implications for the case being put for a full Government apology and Government inquiry south of the Border – long denied to campaigners - to examine the tragedy and the cover-ups that have taken place over the years.

The Penrose Inquiry final report, is due for release next year.

Campaigning group, Tainted Blood says there is evidence of systemic inaccurate record keeping for haemophiliac HIV sufferers and that this failure can also be applied to those for haemophiliacs infected with Hepatitis C.

Chair of Tainted Blood, Sue Threakall, said: “until now, no one seems to have cared. These people were not just statistics to us: they were husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends!  We believe we have a right to have every single one of them counted, and we welcome Lord Penrose’s efforts to reveal the truth.

“The numbers of infected that are commonly used are from the UKHCDO – the United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Directors Organisation www.ukhcdo.org  These statistics as given in evidence to the Penrose inquiry (4,800 HCV, 1,249 HIV and 4,000 exposed to vCJD), have been used for many years and are what we have been led to believe are true. However, if the numbers are inaccurate then the basis of our argument that Government support is wholly inadequate for victims and families of the bereaved, is significantly strengthened.”

“The truth must out. Government Ministers keep saying that all evidence is in the public domain, and yet they should be the very last ones to make these judgements. We need to determine what has happened and expose all the misrecording and cover-ups which have helped deny the thousands of victims the truth and justice.

Tainted blood has recently written to the Prime Minister asking if he will guarantee that haemophiliacs are not also victims of yet another tragedy caused by 1970’s and 80’s political cover up. His office simply passed the letter onto the Department of Health, the very Department at the epicentre of this scandal for the past thirty years!

Don’t we have a right to know how many the NHS infected and killed and what cover-ups there have been? In a month where the press has been full of reports  of systemic and institutionalised abuse, Contaminated blood victims say ‘What about us?’ “

For anyone unable to open the document / link in the Haemophilia Society Policy on Contaminated Blood in the Press Release PDF document below, please click on the file icon at the end of this post.

Richard

Press Release - 19th October 2012

Campaigners today acknowledge and welcome the Haemophilia Society’s first ever formal policy on contaminated blood.

The policy has been launched at the inaugural meeting of the newly formed All Party Parliamentary Group on haemophilia and contaminated blood, following consultation between the Society and the haemophilia community.

It follows over thirty years of campaigning for the Government to adequately address the impact on haemophiliacs and their families multiply infected by their NHS treatment. Many thousands are still suffering or have already died.

We are pleased that the Society has formally stated its position in support of the community and hope that this will strengthen our position in future months, when we look forward to a meeting with the Expert Medical Group, chaired by Anna Soubry, the new Under Secretary of State for Health.

In particular we await the publication of Lord Penrose’s report on how contaminated blood affected Scottish haemophiliacs. Because the events he is investigating took place pre-devolution, we feel that they will undoubtedly impact greatly on the Westminster Government and highlight the decisions they made in London.

                                           
We hope this latest move by the haemophilia society will strengthen our calls for complete transparency, justice and closure.

Press Statement - 20th September 2012

TaintedBlood and Manor House Group yesterday issued a joint reaction to last week’s parliamentary statement by the Prime Minister about the findings of a review into the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy in which 96 Liverpool fans were killed.

We are thrilled that the truth has finally been uncovered and acknowledged in full.  Families and friends of those tragically killed have been fully vindicated in their pursuit of the truth. We hope justice will now swiftly follow.

The unreserved apology given to the nation as well as those affected was momentous. Mr. Cameron’s admission that the state failed to protect life and then compounded those failings by not attempting to uncover the truth in full is a story with which those affected by contaminated blood treatments are familiar and we applaud such an honest admission by government. We urge him to provide a similarly comprehensive response in other, older, outstanding but equally troubling disasters.

Joseph Peaty, a TaintedBlood campaigner substantially injured as a result of NHS contaminated blood products use, described how he felt:

“As I listened to the Prime Minister delivering his statement to parliament on the findings of a review in to the Hillsborough tragedy, an icy shiver went through me.  Initially I was simply heartened that the government could act with compassion and humility when they choose to.
After all, the Hillsborough tragedy and resultant fight for the truth have been highly visible and have gained substantial empathy from the public and it felt great to see them achieve this victory after so long.
 
But as I listened to the description of the reasons for the loss of life, admission of the state's failure to protect life and unwillingness to openly seek out the truth and promote accountability, I became acutely aware of the way the facts mimicked what had happened to me and the 5,000+ others infected, injured and killed by NHS contaminated blood treatments in the 1970's & 1980’s.
 
Unlike Hillsborough, our disaster has never been granted a transparent, public, government initiated inquiry into the truth; in fact there has never been any co-operation from them in this area and they have never sought to apply any accountability.
On the contrary the widespread destruction of evidence and lack of effort to preserve the truth is indicative of the type of authoritative, self-preserving attitude evident throughout the 1970's & 1980’s by certain agents of the State.
 
Mr. Cameron described the events as wrong and said that it should never take 23 years to establish the truth where the public believes an injustice has occurred. Surely if this is right then how much more true must it be in the case of contaminated blood and blood products – a scandal that is now 30 years old!”

TaintedBlood and Manor House Group wholeheartedly agree with these sentiments.
To learn more about the striking similarities of the States role in these disasters please take time to review our briefing note (attached below) that looks at the failings in greater detail.
 

Most media coverage of the proposals by Justice Minister Kenneth Clarke to be able to hold secret court hearings has focused on the use of these for terrorist cases. However, many fear wider use in assisting Government cover-ups and limiting witnesses finding out important information; for instance in medical negligence cases.

Consultation on this was similarly secretive and inadequate. TaintedBlood and Manor House Group would like to inform you that TB member Andrew March and a group of similarly dedicated campaigners have been working for some weeks on a legal case involving the failure of the Ministry of Justice to adequately publicise their consultation Green Paper on "Justice and Security".  We are pleased to announce today that on Wednesday 4^th April 2012 Andrew filed a Judicial Review in the High Court (Administrative Division) regarding this matter.

The Green Paper ostensibly concerns the widening of the use of CMPs (Closed Material Procedures) in cases concerning National Security, but that is not where the proposals end. It has become clear that the proposals in the Green Paper will affect civil cases, such as medical negligence cases, inquests and other types of hearing.

As we worked it became clearer how much the haemophilia community would be adversely impacted if this Bill become law. For example, if we went to court in future with a medical negligence case –for instance vCJD – then we could face blanket secrecy in the courtroom and our present right to an open and democratic hearing could be lost for ever.

Tainted Blood chair Sue Threakall commented: “Following filing of Andrew’s judicial review, the response from the Treasury solicitors failed to give us the assurances we seek, to have an input to the consultation to help protect patients’ rights. Secret trials would lead to further injustice of the kind haemophiliacs have suffered over the years when trying to raise legally, the NHS mistakes made over HIV and Hepatitis C. Furthermore, if ever we were to be granted a Public Inquiry it could be held in secret and the truth about what happened to us would remain hidden.

“It is reported that Government ‘sources’ point towards some kind of climb-down about holding secret justice hearings in all but a tiny number of terrorism cases. We have put our marker down just in case.”

For further comment please contact Andrew March on 0715 381303

8 April 2012

Full copy attached below.