To be so completely shocked by the blood scandal

[ChristmasGutPunch]

I knew a lot of children got sick and died in later life but I thought it was a terrible accident or oversight. A mistake because we didn't know any better. I had no idea there was a conscious decision to infect small boys on purpose to see what happened. How can this possibly have happened? How come I didn't realise the full extent until now??

If I were an affected family member I'd want to murder those involved. It's unbearable.

I don't blame the medics as such

I do. The report does. You should.

People are still far too quick to wash blame away from medics who deserve to be blamed and held accountable.

While I knew a set of twins with haemophilia who died very young in the 90s and we knew it was due to them being given something contaminated, this story being in the news has reminded me of something. I have a lot of relatives who were social workers or worked in the NHS. Back the 90s there were lots of discussions about the sheer amount of people in Glasgow who had HepC. Dodgy tattoo artist were blamed, using dirty needles and the sudden rise in intravenous drug users passing the disease on. But, it seems that it was mostly people being unwittingly infected from contaminated blood and not knowing that sharing needles would pass it on. Most likely the suppliers of the blood products would have know this.

This is why the NHS worship that goes on is dangerous

This is the thing - most other countries apologised and paid compensation years and years ago. While in the UK they insisted those affected had "the best possible treatment at the time" 😡

This.

The tories have had years to sort this and they've treated the victims with nothing but absolute contempt. I'm disgusted with the doctors too.

The individuals responsible for this, if still living, should face criminal charges. They absolutely must be held accountable.

Treloar School with unit for haemophiliacs: 122 children injected with treatment. Only.47 survived.No one consented, not parents or children. And the doctors knew the treatment was deadly. How could they look the children in the face?
Frankly,I think they should be arrested and charged if they are still around as a warning to other doctors who fancy experimenting without notifying parents of side effects and failing to gain consent.
Seems like safeguarding is not just a last century issue.

I think it was deliberate. How could this be an accident

Ahh I'm so shocked at the continuing naivety of the young with governments ,when will we learn .Remember after the first world war when they said it would be country fit for heroes and in reality disabled men were begging on street corners .
It's never changed .
Remember when children were in care because there was no one to care for them , that went well .

Agreed

Some other countries settled this over 20 years ago. The lengths that were taken to deny what has happened is really eye opening. A female journalist first raised the alarm in 1983 .

Reputation is always more important to British institutions than truth or justice. We have a long list of these scandals and cover-ups now and nothing changes.

Our culture is toxic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1997z82gdro

I'm not "washing blame away" i'm saying that the politicians and civil servants are ultimately to blame, they control the purse strings and created the culture of denial.

The Govt is in control of the NHS, Dr's etc are not in control of Whitehall, who all knew what was going on but chose to do nothing.

If the people in charge think they can escape justice by blaming Dr's and Nurses, thats exactly what they'll do and we will get further scandals, nothing will change and we've seen this before.

Nothing to do with NHS worship but about the culture and where blame really rests.

Around 250 people die each week, right now, because they do not get the care they need (Royal College of Emergency Medicine) is that the fault of Dr's Nurses and Paramedics or the Govt?

@Alexandra2001 The Govt is in control of the NHS, Dr's etc are not in control of Whitehall, who all knew what was going on but chose to do nothing.

I think you are letting the Dr’s off far too lightly. They knew what they were doing was wrong and I think its a problem within the NHS now and still a big problem with far too many coverups and closing ranks.

Yes but its a bit of a chicken and egg thing.

I want these scandals to end but until we start jailing people at the top, they wont end.

I recently read a book on a Consultant who was a whistleblower, the Trust treated him like a criminal, he wont work as a Dr again.

Is it fair that we expect Dr's to ruin their careers, whilst achieving nothing, but the people in the Trust and Govt carry on as before?

Yes there will be Dr's who should face charges but what i don't want to see is the NHS carry the can for Govt failures, for example Jeremy Hunt knew 12 years ago about this scandal, what did he do? he was in post for 6 years.... the Tories for 14 years...
What did Blairs Govt do? they were in for 13 years...

These people will seek to blame the culture, plead medical ignorance and blame individual Dr's.

@Alexandra2001

I agree with what you say about the Government but I also think that there are too many Consultants and Doctors that play god and believe they are untouchable because their backs are covered and they are! Look at all the latest failings in the news within the NHS.

Woah. It is clear that doctors involved knew full well what was going on, and should be held to account. There has to be absolute transparency around this or the knock on effects will be horrendous. It could easily completely breakdown the trust of the public in health care entirely and if it is not addressed cooly and rationally all sorts of conspiracy theories will abound with potentially disastrous results for public health in the future.

Don't see why. Covering its arse is about the only thing the UK Civil Service is any good at. Mind you, it's had enough practice.

Bearing in mind that those who receive blood transfusions still aren't allowed to donate afterwards, I also wonder just how "historic" this is

I realise that policy adjustments move at the speed of an arthritic snail, but if this scandal really did only affect things up to tthe 1990s why hasn't that changed yet?

Have you even read the report?

Doctors deliberately experimented on children. I am very comfortable with people like that being blamed, prosecuted and convicted if they are still alive.

It’s absolutely heartbreaking that so many people have lost their health, and their lives. It’s scandalous that repeated government have chosen to ignore, suppress and cover up. It’s abhorrent that Sunak is now giving yet another apology for institutional and systemic failure of government to protect its citizens. All over the place people protecting their own position and playing politics with scant regard to the lives people live and the impact of their decision making. We should be rioting in the streets.

There was a guy called Chris on Channel 4 news last night who lost his father to this. He hasnt seen a doctor for 15 years because he doesnt trust them

Actually think it might have been ITV News

*The Govt is in control of the NHS, Dr's etc are not in control of Whitehall, who all knew what was going on but chose to do nothing.

If the people in charge think they can escape justice by blaming Dr's and Nurses, thats exactly what they'll do and we will get further scandals, nothing will change and we've seen this before.*

Surely it’s both though, the government are ultimately responsible for their governance, and for creating the conditions where this could both happen and be covered up. Parliamentary government and civil servants should be held to account for their role in this over decades.

Individual medics made the decision to use blood products knowing they weren’t safe, to actively experiment on children. They too should be held to account.

We seem to have a real problem calling the NHS to account. Its like a bloody cult.

And 'Whistleblowers' are still not protected, are they?