Nearly 2,000 across Britain living with undiagnosed hepatitis C

‘There is an obligation to remind people who may have been infected’ ‘Raising awareness poses undoubted difficulties’

ABOUT 1,750 people are living with an undiagnosed hepatitis C infection after being given contaminated blood, a BBC analysis has found.

The calculations, which relate to those given a transfusion with contaminated blood, come ahead of the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report expected on May 20.

The scandal saw thousands of people in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s given blood transfusions or blood products that were infected with viruses such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

Thousands died after being contaminated by the products, provided by the NHS and often imported from the US. It is thought up to 27,000 people were exposed to hepatitis C.

BBC analysis suggests about 1,750 people are still unaware they have been infected.

The majority of those infected with hepatitis C via blood transfusions were women, with many cases resulting from childbirth and ectopic pregnancies.

The calculations are based on statistics submitted to the Infected Blood Inquiry by an expert panel, as well as Freedom of Information requests to infected blood support schemes.

Official documents, seen by BBC news, show how the British government and the NHS failed to adequately trace those who were most at risk of having the virus.

One describes the “undoubted difficulties for the NHS” if public awareness of the problem was raised, causing “bottlenecks” at liver units that would not have had enough resources to test those coming forward. Another Department of Health document, from the 1990s, said there was “an obligation to remind health professionals and people who may have been infected”.

But the document, submitted to the public inquiry, continued: “We have so far avoided going down this road because of the resource implications for the NHS. Raising awareness poses undoubted difficulties. In terms of value for money, there may be better candidates for additional resources,” the BBC reported.

The report said that instead of prioritising care for those who had been harmed by Nhs-provided blood, officials squeezed budgets as cost concerns took priority.

The Infected Blood Inquiry was finally announced in 2017, after years of campaigning by victims.

A government spokesman said that the scandal was “an appalling tragedy that never should have happened”.

They added that a new body would be set up to deliver compensation once victims and claims had been assessed.