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A public inquiry has condemned the failings that led to thousands of people being infected with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood. The independent privately-funded inquiry called the use of contaminated blood products to treat patients with haemophilia a "horrific human tragedy".
The report suggested UK authorities had been slow to react, but accepted it was hard to directly apportion blame.
In the 1970s and 1980s, nearly 5,000 people were exposed to hepatitis C.
Of these, more than 1,200 were also infected with HIV.
Almost 2,000 of those people have since died as a result.
What we need now is to see some very swift action from the government
Sue ThreakallTainted Blood
The two-year inquiry, led by Lord Archer of Sandwell, said the main responsibility for the tragedy rested with the US suppliers of the contaminated blood products.
He said commercial interests appeared to have been given a higher priority than patient safety.
Much of the blood had come from down-at-heel "skid row" donors, such as prison inmates, whose risk of hepatitis C and HIV was much higher than that of the general population.
However, Lord Archer also criticised the UK government at the time for being slow to realise the extent of the danger faced by patients.
He said there was "lethargic" progress towards national self-sufficiency in blood products in England and Wales, where it took 13 years compared to just five years in Ireland.
But he added: "It is a bit late to say who is to blame when little can be done about it.
"What the government ought to address is the needs of people now."
Compensation
To do this, he recommended that compensation schemes for those who were affected be improved.
He also said a public inquiry should have been held earlier.
He said some witnesses were unable to fully recollect what had happened because of the passage of time.
And Lord Archer lamented the decision of the Department of Health not to give evidence publicly - there were several private meetings with officials - and with-hold certain documents.
"It is hard to say what we could have found out."
Sue Threakall, from the campaign group from Tainted Blood whose husband died after being given contaminated blood, welcomed the report.
She said: "What we need now is to see some very swift action from the government.
"All we have ever wanted is the truth, and some justice."
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Christopher James, chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, agreed.
He said the way victims had been treated to date had not been right and he urged ministers to make up for this.
"We've said for some time that the current level of payments and the method of payment are inappropriate and not fit for purpose.
"It is now up to the government to look at the report.
"We want them to act on it urgently and significantly."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "We have great sympathy for the patients and families affected and will study the findings of Lord Archer's report in detail."
He added there was now "robust screening" of blood and blood products taking place.
Haemophilia is a rare inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot normally.
There is no cure, but the condition can be managed using a clotting chemical, known as factor VIII.
But in the early 1970s, patients were treated with blood products that came in a dry powder form which could then be reconstituted with water.
From 1973, the powder was made commercially in the US, and the blood it used often came from patients who had been paid for giving their blood.
Between then and the mid-1980s, 4,670 people in the UK with haemophilia were exposed to hepatitis C.
In 1981, it was discovered that some plasma was infected with HIV.
Since the mid-1980s, plasma products have been heat-treated to kill viruses.
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More from BBC Radio 5 liveThere have been payments to people infected with HIV, and in 2004, the Skipton Fund was set up for people infected with hepatitis C, but no payments were made to those who died before 2003.
The public inquiry said compensation should be paid directly through the Department of Work and Pensions just as other benefits are to create a standardised and fair system to give people better access to care and support.
Publication of the report follows the news last week of the first case of vCJD in a patient with haemophilia - discovered during a post-mortem after the patient died from other causes.
Up to 4,000 haemophilia sufferers have been warned they could be at risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.