Hepatitis C (Hansard, 15 October 2001)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)
My Lords, the Government have great sympathy with haemophilia patients who were infected with hepatitis C before the means existed to remove the virus from blood products. We have given careful consideration to the call for a public inquiry but do not believe that that is the way forward. The facts have been set out clearly on many occasions in debates in both Houses, in meetings with Ministers from the Department of Health and in correspondence.

§ Lord Morris of Manchester
My Lords, is it not grossly damaging to the reputation of the National Health Service that we still await a public inquiry into its worst-ever treatment disaster—one that has already taken more than 100 lives among the now more than 1,000 haemophilia patients who have died from contaminated NHS blood products? And will my noble friend respond to the deeply disquieting recent disclosure made by my former ministerial colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Owen, to the BBC's "Face the Facts" programme, when he said that money laid aside, when he was health Minister, to protect haemophilia patients from infection from blood-borne infection was diverted to other purposes? Is this not still further evidence that an in-house departmental inquiry is no substitute for the public inquiry the Haemophilia Society is seeking?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I believe that all the facts have been produced in various debates in your Lordships' House and in the other place. There can be no doubt that any Minister who had a decision to make on the issue cannot but deeply regret that so many people with haemophilia were infected with hepatitis C through blood products. As soon as the technology became available to make blood products free from hepatitis C, it was introduced by the National Health Service.
I have asked officials to look into statements made by the noble Lord, Lord Owen. We shall respond to those statements in due course. My understanding is that the resources promised by the noble Lord when he was Minister of Health were allocated to the then regional transfusion centres to increase production of plasma for the bioproducts laboratory. That resource was used and, as a result, production was increased considerably. However, because of the rapid growth in demand for those products we did not achieve self-sufficiency in this country. Even if that was achieved in the late 1970s, the fact that heat treatment did not take place until the mid-1980s meant that self-sufficiency would not have prevented haemophiliacs being infected with hepatitis C.

§ Lord Clement-Jones
My Lords, can the Minister tell the House what moral distinction the Government make between their decision to set up a £60 million compensation fund for those who contracted new variant CJD and their adamant refusal to do the same for those who contracted hepatitis C through contaminated blood products? Is that not a case of double standards?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
No, my Lords. Such decisions are always difficult and no Minister would ever make them lightly. The plight of individuals and families affected by new variant CJD was the result of a unique set of circumstances. The Government considered that society as a whole should bear a moral responsibility. New variant CJD is a particularly distressing condition. Even though we were advised that we were unlikely to be legally liable, we considered it right to make payment to the victims and their families.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, can the Minister tell the House whether the situation in this country is different from that in France where I understand that the Government knowingly allowed HIV-transmissible injections to be used for haemophiliac patients? I believe that one of their Ministers admitted to that. Are we sure that that was never knowingly done in this country? Can the Minister tell the House the number of relative cases of hepatitis C as opposed to the number of HIV/AIDS cases that have been transmitted to haemophiliacs through blood products?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, clearly, circumstances have differed in every country which has had to face up to this problem. In the early 1970s, 340 clinicians knew that there was a risk of hepatitis. However, there was great demand and, indeed, enthusiasm, for the new treatment from haemophiliacs and doctors. The impact of hepatitis C was not fully understood at that time and its effects were unclear. It was not until the mid-1980s and the attempt to prevent HIV that heat treatment was first used. It was not until then that there was a process which could have prevented the hepatitis C infection.