Health

Infected blood inquiry judge calls for more testing for hepatitis C


More widespread medical testing should be carried out to detect the “terrible disease” of hepatitis C and ensure that it is eliminated faster, the judge chairing the infected blood inquiry has recommended.

On the first day of the main inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff supported calls for greater public and medical awareness of the condition which has infected 180 million people worldwide.

The inquiry, held at Fleetbank House, near Feet Street in central London, is expected to last up to three years. It will hear from people contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C through blood products and transfusions as well as, later on, from NHS and Department of Health officials.

In his opening remarks, the former high court judge said he hoped the hearings would “spread the message that those who are struggling with infections of HIV or hepatitis through blood or blood products are not alone.

“Anything [that can be done] to increase public knowledge of the symptoms , causes – and as so many of you have told me movingly in your witness statements, the consequences of late discovery – of hepatitis C in particular will be of great value to the public, because so many symptoms of that disease seem to mimic a range of common conditions.

“Anything that they can do to raise awareness is particularly important given that there are some 180 million people worldwide who suffer from it, and the World Health Organization has recently announced that it plans to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030. It may be possible to make that happen even earlier in this country but that depends on people being tested otherwise it will take too long to eliminate what has been a terrible disease.”

Jenni Richards QC, counsel to the inquiry, said the Hepatitis C Trust continues to receive calls from people who have only recently been diagnosed. Potentially thousands more people are at risk but not aware they are infected.

The NHS has recently circulated letters to GPs across the country, she revealed, urging doctors to make sure patients who might be infected are given blood tests. “The inquiry brings the letter to public attention,” Richards said, “in the hope that it may encourage greater public awareness on the part of clinicians as well as in the public more widely.”

The inquiry has so far identified 341 separate depositories where documents relating to the contamination scandal are held and is working its way through files and electronic records. Researchers have already read two and a half million pages of Department of Health documents.

More than 1,200 witness statements have been submitted to the inquiry which intends to publish them all eventually. Where statements contain criticism of individuals, particularly doctors, they will be contacted in advance for their response where possible.



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