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Contaminated blood inquiry will consider cover-up

THE contaminated blood inquiry which affected thousands of people in the Seventies and Eighties will examine whether there was an attempt to coverup the scandal, its chairman has said.

The probe will consider the treatment of patients who were given blood products infected with hepatitis viruses and HIV, and the impact this had on their families. Some 2,400 people are thought to have died.

Theresa May, the Prime Minister, announced last year an inquiry would be held into the events, when thousands of haemophiliacs and other patients in the UK were given infected blood products.

The terms of reference, published yesterday, say the inquiry will consider “whether there have been attempts to conceal details of what happened” through the destruction of documents or withholding of information.

It will also consider if those attempts were deliberate and if “there has been a lack of openness or candour” in the response of the government, NHS bodies and other officials to those affected.

Sir Brian Langstaff, chairman of the inquiry, vowed he would “put the people who have been infected and affected” at its heart.