‘The biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS'? What happened and where are we now?

In the 1970s, the UK imported blood supplies from the US, much of which was bought from high-risk donors such as prison inmates and drug-users.

Factor VIII, an essential blood clotting protein, was made by pooling plasma from tens of thousands of donors. That meant that if just one was carrying a virus, the entire batch could be contaminated – therefore affecting thousands. 

UK blood donations were not routinely screened for hepatitis C until 1991, a full year and a half after the virus was first identified.

Two main groups were affected: haemophiliacs and others with similar blood clotting disorders, and those given contaminated blood transfusions after childbirth, surgery or other medical treatments between 1970 and 1991. We will go into more detail on the groups affected in the second instalment in our series.

Up until the findings of the Inquiry report were published, the only way a victim could try and obtain compensation was through the civil courts. However,  the reality was that they had little or no prospect of success against either the NBA or the Trust for negligence because of the weight given by the court to the arguments made by the NBA in the case of A and Others -v- National Blood Authority and Another, in which they argued that even though blood supplies may have been tainted, there was no mechanism for screening blood for the disease and therefore harm was unavoidable. 

This was a landmark case with the High Court concluding that the tainted blood was “defective” and thus a breach of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 - however the majority of victims claim were not eligible to damages under the act because they were outside the legal time limits.

All that was available to the victims was access to discretionary payments under schemes such as the Skipton fund which was a government ex Gratia payment scheme, and were not considered as compensation payments.

Earlier this autumn, the government has confirmed it has set aside £11.8bn to compensate victims of the infected blood scandal following an inquiry concluded in May 2024.

The findings were damning, pointing to repeated failures despite knowledge of the risks. Among other conclusions the inquiry identified that, during certain periods, blood donations were accepted from high-risk groups, and imported without adequate safeguards. Blood products were not heat-treated to eliminate HIV, and there was inadequate testing to reduce the risk of hepatitis.

Now, the Infected Blood Compensation authority (IBCA) has been set up with the power to pay patients - but there’s still a way to go. To understand how our market-leading clinical negligence team can help you or a family member navigate a claim, you can contact us via the details below.