Tainted blood inquiry announced

People were infected with hepatitis C and HIV in the 70s and 80s

Details of a Scottish public inquiry into the infection of NHS patients with hepatitis C and HIV through blood products have been announced.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said previous government-led inquires into the issue lacked independence.

Hundreds of people in Scotland, including haemophiliacs, were given the tainted blood in the 70s and 80s.

The previous Holyrood government resisted calls from campaigners for a public inquiry into the issue.

A total of £3m has been earmarked for the independent inquiry, which will be chaired by the former judge and sheriff, Lady Cosgrove and is expected to start hearing evidence towards the end of the year.

It will also specifically look into the deaths of two infected patients, 72-year-old Eileen O'Hara and Rev David Black, 66, in 2003.

The day I was told I was infected, my life ended as far as I was concerned Robert Mackie NHS patient

In a separate case, judge Lord Mackay quashed a previous decision not to hold fatal accident inquiries into the cases, and ruled their human rights were breached.

Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament: "The transmission of hepatitis C and HIV through blood and blood products is a tragedy that has blighted the lives of many people in Scotland.

"That is why we are committed to a thorough inquiry to get to the bottom of this.

"We owe an explanation to patients and the public of what took place. We are determined to provide that."

The Scots investigation is expected to look into where NHS blood and blood products previously came from, whether they were effectively screened and whether heat treatment could have been introduced earlier.

It will also probe the practices of the blood transfusion service at the time.

Ms Sturgeon said the events took place at a time when evidence about blood-borne viral infections was more limited - but said, even then, there were indications that tainted blood supplies existed.

"There is no doubt that the people affected and their families deserve nothing less than answers to these questions," she told MSPs

"If they are to achieve any sort of closure, we need to get to the bottom of what has been one of the most tragic episodes in NHS Scotland in the provision of treatment with blood and blood products."

One patient, haemophiliac Robert Mackie, who was diagnosed with hepatitis C and HIV in the early 80s, said an inquiry would provide some answers but would never give him back the life which he said was stolen from him.

He told BBC Scotland: "The day I was told I was infected, my life ended as far as I was concerned. Life as I knew it was over.

"None of us knew of these risks or were even told of these risks."

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats welcomed the inquiry, as did Labour - although the party questioned what extra benefit it could bring, given a similar investigation was currently under way in England.