The Infected Blood Scandal
This was not a tragedy.
It was a decision.
Between the 1970s and 1990s, thousands of people with haemophilia in the UK were given blood products contaminated with HIV and Hepatitis C. The risks were known. They were not told.
United Kingdom
30,000+
People infected by NHS treatment
3,000+
Have died — and that number is still rising
1970s–1990s
Decades of contaminated treatment
1 every 4 days
An infected person still dies today
What happened
The risks were known
By the early 1980s, medical and government officials were aware that imported blood products — particularly Factor VIII — carried a risk of blood-borne viruses. People with haemophilia were not warned.
Contaminated products continued to be used
Despite safer alternatives and growing evidence of risk, the NHS continued to use contaminated blood products. Commercial blood from paid donors — including prisoners in the United States — was used knowing it carried heightened risk.
Children were used as test subjects
Boys at Treloar's School, a school for children with haemophilia, were given experimental blood products without proper informed consent. Fewer than 30 of the 122 boys treated survive today.
Documents were destroyed
Evidence relating to the scandal was deliberately destroyed. Internal communications, clinical records, and government documents were lost or shredded during the years when accountability was being sought.
A cover-up at the highest level
The Infected Blood Inquiry, which published its final report in May 2024, confirmed that there had been a cover-up. Ministers, officials, and clinicians were involved in concealing the scale and cause of deaths.
This was not only a UK scandal
The UK case is the best documented — with a full public inquiry and a confirmed cover-up at government level. But contaminated blood products affected people with haemophilia across the world. The same commercial blood products, sourced from paid donors including prisoners, were distributed internationally.
United States
The US exported contaminated blood products globally throughout the 1980s. Tens of thousands of people with haemophilia in the US were also infected with HIV and Hepatitis C. The blood industry faced lawsuits but no comparable public inquiry.
France
French health officials continued distributing HIV-contaminated blood products after tests were available in 1985. Several officials were prosecuted. The scandal became a defining political crisis in France in the 1990s.
Japan
An estimated 1,800 people with haemophilia in Japan were infected with HIV through contaminated blood products imported from the United States. A landmark lawsuit resulted in a national apology and compensation settlement.
Similar scandals have been documented in Canada, Germany, Ireland, and elsewhere. The global death toll runs into the tens of thousands.
Treloar's School
Lord Mayor Treloar College in Hampshire was a residential school for children with haemophilia. Between the 1970s and 1980s, boys there were given experimental blood products as part of research trials — without the informed consent of children or parents.
122 boys were treated. Most contracted HIV or Hepatitis C. Fewer than 30 are alive today.
The Infected Blood Inquiry confirmed that clinicians at Treloar's knew the products carried risk but continued administering them. Survivors and families have described a culture of medical authority in which questioning was not possible.
Where we are now
The Infected Blood Inquiry established after decades of pressure from victims and families.
Final report published. Confirmed deliberate cover-up at the highest levels of government. Government apologised.
Compensation scheme announced. Many victims and families still waiting for full payments.
Survivors are ageing. Some have died waiting for justice. The fight for full accountability continues.
The official inquiry report
The full Infected Blood Inquiry report is available on the inquiry's official site.
Read the Infected Blood Inquiry report → (opens in new tab)Did you know?
The UK imported blood products from paid donors in the US — including prisoners and drug addicts — despite knowing the hepatitis risks.
This is why independence matters.
HRP accepts no pharmaceutical funding. No donations. Our positions are not shaped by the organisations that caused this.