On the 20th May, the Infected Blood Inquiry published it final report on the contaminated blood scandal of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. A scandal seen as one of the worse disasters of the NHS since it was formed in 1948.
From the Department of Statistics, two of our current Department members and one previous doctorate student have contributed to this hugely important inquiry as part of the Infected Bloody Inquiry Response Expert Group. The two department members are Professor Christl Donnelly and Dr. Sarah Hayes, with Dr. Ruth McCabe as the third, having contributed to the inquiry during her doctorate studies.
Dr. Ruth McCabe now works as a World Health Organization (WHO) Liaison at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College.
We are very grateful to all three for contributing to this significant publication, one of the “largest public inquiry carried out in the UK” (Cave & Farsides, 2024). With the breath of evidence received for the inquiry – more than 5,000 witnesses and over 10,000 documents (Hui, 2024), this was an immense task to undertake.
In addition to their contributions to the final report, they have also drafted an explainer of the statistics, which was published with the RSS. This was completed with Professor Sheila Bird and Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter from the University of Cambridge.
The Report
The published report consists of seven volumes: a total of approximately two and half thousand pages, with each volume available to download independently. It follows on from the Compensation Framework Study carried out by Sir Robert Francis K.C in and two Interim Reports – all separate documents to one another.
Infected Blood Inquiry Report Volumes:
- Overview and recommendations
- People’s Experiences and Treloar’s
- What happened and why? (Part 01)
- What happened and why? (Part 02)
- What happened and why? (Part 03)
- Response of Government and Public Bodies
- Response of Government
Within the report is the proposed outline of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme (referred to as ‘the Scheme’ throughout the document) and this will be delivered by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). Through the IBCA, financial compensation will be made to the victims of the sandal whether they be infected or affected persons.
The Scheme, which will be UK wide, is currently chaired by Sir Robert Francis, a British Barrister specialising in medical law.
Links and Articles
Key Reading
Infected Blood Inquiry news post: https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/news/inquiry-publishes-report-statistics-expert-group
RSS Explainer, ‘The statistics behind the Infected Bloody Inquiry’: https://rss.org.uk/news-publication/news-publications/2024/general-news/the-statistics-behind-the-infected-blood-inquiry-a/
Summary Report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infected-blood-inquiry-response-expert-group-summary-report
Further and Contextual Reading
NHS Blood and Transplant dedicated page: https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/who-we-are/transparency/infected-blood-inquiry/
England NHS Response: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2024/05/publication-of-the-infected-blood-inquiry-final-report/
Lord’s Library In Focus: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/infected-blood-scandal-background-impacts-interim-compensation-and-inquiry-outcomes/
Government Infected Blood Inquiry Response: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infected-blood-inquiry-response-expert-group-terms-of-reference/infected-blood-inquiry-response-expert-group-terms-of-reference-html
BBC News Article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48596605
The Independent news article: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/infected-blood-scandal-inquiry-uk-compensation-hepatitus-c-b2547882.html
The Conversation news article: https://theconversation.com/infected-blood-scandal-what-you-need-to-know-228579