Infected blood inquiry: Five things we have learned

A long-running public inquiry into what has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS will hear its final evidence on Friday.

It is thought tens of thousands were infected with HIV and hepatitis between 1970 and 1991 after being given a contaminated drug or blood transfusion.

The inquiry, which started in 2018, has reviewed thousands of documents and heard testimony from 370 witnesses.

A total of 1,250 people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders contracted HIV after being given a protein made from blood plasma known as Factor VIII.

About half of that group later died of an Aids-related illness.

Researchers found that 380 of those infected with HIV - about one in three - were children, including some very young toddlers.

One of the key questions the inquiry will now have to answer is whether more could and should have been done to prevent those infections and deaths.

Hundreds of victims of the scandal have received annual support payments but - before this inquiry - no formal compensation had ever been awarded for loss of earnings, care costs and other lifetime losses

Further recommendations on compensation are expected when the inquiry publishes its final report, which is likely to be around the middle of the year.

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Source: BBC News, 3 February 2023