HUNDREDS of Scots infected with deadly viruses after being given contaminated blood by the NHS are hoping a final report into a six-year inquiry will finally unlock answers.
Victims and their families are anxiously awaiting the findings of an 1,800-page report published today in five volumes by Lord Penrose, who conducted the inquiry.
However, Lord Penrose is seriously ill in hospital and will be unable to attend the launch in Edinburgh.
His statement on the inquiry’s findings and recommendations will instead be read by inquiry secretary Maria McCann.
Campaigners fighting for justice for victims infected by HIV and hepatitis C – most of whom were haemophiliac patients who have since died as a result of being given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s – fear the final report will not contain recommendations they themselves made to Lord Penrose.
The lengthy inquiry is expected to cost £12 million but the Scottish Infected Blood forum, which represents victims and their families, insisted “you cannot put a price on a life” and said people deserved the chance to find out the truth behind the scandal.
The forum’s convener Philip Dolan MBE was given an advance copy of the report yesterday but said he was sworn to secrecy about its contents. However he revealed his disappointment that only six victims out of 60 witnesses were allowed to give evidence at the inquiry.
Haemophiliac Dolan, who found out in 1991 that he had contracted hepatitis C from infected blood products, was one of more than 100 victims who wanted to give evidence at the hearing but was not allowed to.
Campaigners are calling for swift action to be taken following the publication of the report, including the setting up of a Scottish compensation scheme – making payouts similar to those given to affected patients in Ireland.
Key issues include the standards of production of blood products and whether the infections could have been prevented. Many of those who were infected with HIV did not find out until years after that they had contracted the virus, and some patients said they were used as “guinea pigs” for early research into the virus without being told they had been infected.
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