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    Penrose Report into the NHS Contaminated Blood scandal

    Kitkat
    Kitkat
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    Penrose Report into the NHS Contaminated Blood scandal Empty Penrose Report into the NHS Contaminated Blood scandal

    Post by Kitkat Wed 25 Mar 2015, 15:52

    'Penrose inquiry: David Cameron apologises over infected blood'

    Prime Minister David Cameron has apologised on behalf of the British government to victims of the contaminated blood scandal.

    It came after a Scottish inquiry described the saga as "the stuff of nightmares".

    Thousands of people were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV through NHS blood products in the 1970s and 80s.

    But the inquiry concluded few matters could have been done differently.

    And it made only a single recommendation - that anyone in Scotland who had a blood transfusion before 1991 should be tested for Hepatitis C if they have not already done so.

    There was an angry response to the report from victims and relatives who had gathered at the National Museum in Edinburgh to see its publication after a six-year wait, with shouts of "whitewash" after its conclusions were read out.

    The contaminated blood scandal has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, many of whom had been haemophilia patients.

    Hundreds of those affected were in Scotland, which was the only part of the UK to hold an inquiry.

    Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Mr Cameron said it was difficult to imagine the "feeling of unfairness that people must feel at being infected with something like Hepatitis C or HIV as a result of totally unrelated treatment within the NHS".

    He said of the report: "It's not about broken processes, it's about broken lives" and said now was the time for an apology.

    Mr Wright added: "At first sight the report appears to disorganised and impenetrable. Worse still it might appear on first reading to be a whitewash with frankly some of the chairman's assertions seemingly barely rational.

    "Look a bit deeper and there is a narrative setting out the case that cannot be avoided by the government and its moral responsibility."

    He said there needed to be an "official apology", better compensation and a review of the report.

    The inquiry's remit was to investigate how the NHS collected, treated and supplied blood.

    Lord Penrose also scrutinised what patients were told, how they were monitored and why patients became infected.

    He added: "To each and every one of these people I would like to say sorry on behalf of the government for something that should not have happened."

    He also confirmed that the government would provide up to £25m in 2015/16 to support any transitional arrangement to a better payment system.

    For Analysis by Hugh Pym, BBC health correspondent, and for further details on this story, see link:  

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-32041715
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