Statement on the Infected Blood Inquiry report

Dr Jo Farrar, Chief Executive of NHS Blood and Transplant, said:

“I would like to thank Sir Brian Langstaff for this incredibly detailed report. We will consider this carefully to ensure we learn lessons from the past and keep improving.

“We have heard, and continue to recognise the hurt, pain and suffering of the Infected and Affected.

“As part of our evidence to the Inquiry, we apologised unreservedly for any respect in which the blood services of the past, or the blood they supplied, was the cause of suffering to any person. We are sorry for the delay in introducing hepatitis C screening and the delay to beginning the hepatitis C virus look back to find people who had been infected. We are sorry for not introducing better donor screening for HIV and that blood services continued to collect blood from prisoners until 1984.

“This Inquiry is incredibly important to help us all learn from the past. Modern safety standards are rigorous and significant improvements have been made since these tragic events.

“We put patient and donor safety at the heart of everything we do, and the UK now has one of the safest blood services in the world. We will continue to learn and improve.”