Previous scandals that rocked the NHS

Tainted blood

Arguably the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the health service. In the 1970s and 1980s haemophiliacs became infected with hepatitis C and HIV after they were treated with contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS. More than 2,880 have since died. The tainted batches were bought cheaply from the US, including from prisons. Last year a full statutory inquiry was announced.

Mid Staffs

An estimated 1,000 patients at Stafford Hospital died between 2005 and 2009 as a result of poor care, due in part to a chronic staff shortage. A public inquiry heard that inexperienced junior doctors were put in charge of critically ill patients and nurses switched off equipment because they did not know how to use it.

Deep Mind

In 2017 the NHS illegally handed Google the data of more than a million patients. The breach stemmed from a 2015 app trial by Deepmind which ended up gathering sensitive information such as HIV status and mental health history without the patients’ knowledge.