In 2017, after decades of pressure from victims of the scandal, Theresa May's Government announced there would be a public inquiry into how thousands were given lethal blood products.
Now the reasoning behind the about-turn - the Government had resisted calls for an inquiry for many years - has been revealed in a letter disclosed to Jesmond campaigner Carol Grayson under Freedom of Information laws. A note sent from the office of then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to the Prime Minister shows how public pressure, concern over a cover-up and the efforts of politicians including Diana Johnson and the then-leaders of each opposition party were taken into account in the decision to announce the inquiry.
Carol, whose husband Peter and brother-in-law Steven were both haemophiliacs who died after being given contaminated blood products containing HIV to treat their condition. First with Peter, and since his death in 2005 on her own, Carol has been a vocal campaigner and researcher - including working with the Journal on the Bad Blood campaign in the early 2000s.
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The newly-released documents highlight how activism from victims of the scandal was key in triggering the announcement of a full inquiry. Hours after Theresa May will have received the document, she announced one would take place, pre-empting a House of Commons debate granted to Ms Johnson - a Hull MP - on the issue that took place later that day.
Campaigners had demanded an inquiry as the only route that would give them answers - after years which had seen "whitewashes" and even an "inadequate" report into the Government's failure to achieve self-sufficiency in its blood supply during the 1980s which was then disavowed after being roundly condemned by campaigners including Carol.
In an email sent by Jeremy Hunt's then private secretary at the Department of Health to the Prime Minister's office, Mr Hunt's staffer writes that the minister was "minded" to hold an inquiry. The email correspondence adds: "Following consultation with the Cabinet Office, SofS [Secretary of State] and the Department recommends a statutory inquiry to allow both documents and oral evidence to be considered, but that the inquiry should be based on the Hillsborough model."
Attached is a briefing note setting out the reasoning behind this decision, which reflects a radical change in the Department of Health position. It said: "To date the Department of Health’s position has been that another inquiry would not be in the best interests of sufferers and their families as it would be costly, delay action to address their concerns, and would curtail plans to reform the existing support schemes. The Department has published all relevant information that it holds on blood safety, in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
"There have also been two previous inquiries, the Archer inquiry and the Penrose inquiry in Scotland.
"However, victims remain of the view that there has been a cover-up and are not satisfied by the previous inquiries. Recent events including the announced inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire and recent media articles on infected blood have increased the pressure to hold a 'public inquiry'."
A week earlier, the Sunday Times published a letter to the PM signed by the leaders of each opposition party calling for a statutory public inquiry, while Andy Burnham, himself a former Health Secretary, had called for a "Hillsborough-style inquiry" in a parliamentary debate. Both of these facts are cited in the briefing note, as is the Haemophilia Society's desire for an inquiry that would "compel witnesses under oath, release all documents for public scrutiny and have a remit to consider failures in government policy and negligence by public bodies".
The note also states the importance of "establishing any inquiry in a way that commands public confidence".
Carol explained that she had requested the documents after hearing by chance a quote from Lord O Shaughnessy - a former Health Minister - explaining that he and Jeremy Hunt had written "a paper to the PM to say we thought we needed an inquiry, and she happily took that suggestion".
She said she had contacted both politicians who had told her they would not block the publication of the notes, and she added: "They finally came through, though there are some redactions. It's clear that the pressure on them had just built and built.
"Of course, previously they had produced the self-sufficiency report in 2006 which was written in direct response to our campaigning and the work with the Journal. That had been supposed to be the definitive report into what had happened to haemophiliacs - but it was false." The Government had, prior to announcing the Inquiry, accepted that this report was "inadequate".
Carol has previously spoken at length about the way in which successive Health Secretaries had not responded to the concerns of the haemophiliac community about what had happened to them. Thousands of people have died due to the scandal.
The Infected Blood Inquiry began its work in 2018 and is led by Sir Brian Langstaff. It is currently hearing evidence about the operation of the Blood Products Laboratory which produced UK-made Factor VIII - a treatment given to haemophiliacs to help their blood clot, but which during the 1970s and 1980s was often contaminated with viruses like HIV and hepatitis which were transmitted by blood donors. The Inquiry is expected to finish its hearings in 2022 and provide its findings next year - which will be six years on from its announcement.
The Cabinet Office - which is the Government department now with responsibility for the inquiry - declined to comment further on the documents.
