Ministers in the UK denied knowledge of disastrous failures in the contaminated blood scandal for decades, despite documents showing destruction, loss, and restricted access to key files, according to memos submitted to the official inquiry.

Shredded batches of files related to a blood safety advisory committee indicate government actions amid legal threats. Patients affected by contaminated blood also reported the destruction or initial withholding of their hospital records. The scandal resulted in about 3,000 deaths from tainted blood products. Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, advocating for victims' compensation, highlighted that governments resisted inquiries due to undisclosed failures until 2017.

Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, an advocate for victims' rights and fair compensation, suggested that ministers managed to deflect demands for a public inquiry due to the absence of disclosed documents revealing the extent of failures. She highlighted that until 2017, successive governments maintained the stance that there was no necessity for a public inquiry, asserting that all procedures were conducted appropriately.
 
Beatrice Morgan, a senior associate solicitor at the law firm Leigh Day, representing approximately 300 individuals impacted by the scandal, stated that there was, at minimum, a significant mishandling of documents. Many of their clients suspect a deliberate cover-up and intentional misinformation.

A flashback 

In 1987, David Owen, a former health minister, requested his ministerial documents due to concerns that officials had disregarded his advice in the 1970s regarding the UK's self-sufficiency in concentrated blood products, a measure that could have prevented numerous deaths. However, Owen's office received incorrect information stating that his papers had been destroyed.

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The Department of Health and Social Care has acknowledged during the inquiry that Owen's "ministerial papers should have been available at this time" and has subsequently issued an apology to him.

In late 2004, Lord Jenkin, a former health secretary, reached out to the department regarding access to documents related to contaminated blood. A briefing document prepared for a meeting with him revealed that many essential papers from the 1970s and 1980s had been destroyed. It was noted that these papers were not properly archived and were unfortunately disposed of in the early 1990s.

Additionally, the inquiry has learned that multiple sets of minutes and background documents from the Advisory Committee on the Virological Safety of Blood were shredded between 1994 and 1998. These files were destroyed during a period when officials were informed of the potential for significant litigation related to infected blood. Moreover, this destruction occurred after ministers faced charges in France over the scandal involving the poisoning of hemophiliacs.

The government has admitted that the destruction of files "was clearly wrong and should not have occurred." An internal audit determined that "an arbitrary and unjustified decision most likely taken by an inexperienced member of staff” was the probable cause.

A lawyer representing the health department informed the inquiry that the documents from the advisory committee had been largely “reconstituted”, and many other documents previously thought to be lost have been located since. Advocates argue that the failure to disclose these files over several years resulted in the concealment of the extent of the shortcomings that led to the scandal for an extended period.

Jason Evans, the founder of the Factor 8 advocacy organization, whose father Jonathan passed away in October 1993 due to HIV and hepatitis C contracted from a tainted blood product, stated, “What has happened has been a mixture of deliberate concealment and incompetence. By claiming documents had been destroyed, it also stopped campaigners looking for them. These files would have shown that all the risks were known all the way through and what happened could have been avoided.”

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