The Infected Blood Scandal - UNFINISHED

What was the infected blood scandal?

The infected blood scandal was the NHS treatment disaster in which more than 3,000 people died after being given blood or blood products contaminated with HIV and hepatitis, mainly from the 1970s to the early 1990s

Who was harmed?

people with bleeding disorders such as haemophilia, and people given blood transfusions, for example during childbirth or surgery

The infections

HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B, which can lead to AIDS, cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer

When

mainly from the 1970s until screening of every blood donation for hepatitis C began in September 1991

The scale

more than 3,000 deaths are attributed to infected blood, blood products and tissue

What did the Inquiry find?

• Treatment without informed consent - patients weren’t told the risks of factor concentrates or transfusions, or about safer alternatives

• Research without consent - some patients, including pupils at Treloar’s, a school with its own haemophilia centre, were treated as objects for research without them or their parents being told

• Overriding patients’ wishes: some patients were transfused when they didn’t need it or had refused, a reminder of why refusals of blood transfusion must be respected

• Testing and telling: samples were tested for HIV and hepatitis without patients knowing, and some people learned they were infected months or years later

What can doctors learn from the infected blood scandal?

• Informed consent: explain the risks of a treatment or a research study and the reasonable alternatives, so the patient can choose, as our guide to informed consent explains

• Candour: be open and forthcoming when something goes wrong, even when the patient hasn’t thought to ask

• Protecting privacy: patients with HIV faced stigma, and records that flagged them as high risk made it worse, which is why patient confidentiality matters

Definiton of duty of candour

The duty of candour is the obligation to be open and honest with patients when something goes wrong with their care. It exists both in law and as a professional duty

What is the duty of candour?

• Statutory duty: NHS organisations in England have had a legal duty to be open with patients since 2014, Scotland since 2018 and Wales since 2023

• Professional duty: the GMC and the Nursing and Midwifery Council expect every doctor and nurse to explain fully and promptly what has happened and its likely effects

• What the inquiry wants: the legal duty extended to individual NHS leaders such as board members, and a statutory duty introduced in Northern Ireland