Blood scandal families were belittled, says former Bishop of Liverpool (2024)

When a public inquiry is held into the causes of a national tragedy, survivors and the bereaved alike look for three things.

They want the truth to be uncovered and told, those responsible for the tragedy to be named and held accountable, and change implemented so that such things never happen again.

But when the victims of the infected blood scandal and their families demanded to be told why they and their loved ones had been treated the way they had, they were met for years with resistance, obfuscation and even lies.

But there is an irrepressibility about injustice. If it is not addressed, it will not disappear.

Like a bubble under wallpaper, it cannot be smoothed away. If it is flattened in one place, it will pop up in another.

As I listened to the report of the infected blood inquiry and watched the reaction of the families, I recalled how one senior government minister seemed incapable of understanding this when I was seeking support for the Hillsborough Independent Panel, the investigation I chaired into the death of 97 Liverpool fans in a crowd crush at Sheffield Wednesday's stadium in April 1989.

'It's over 20 years ago,' he said, 'why can't they just move on?'

Thinking of one grieving family in particular, I replied: 'If you had lost both your daughters and still didn't know how and why they died, you too would still be asking questions.'

The parallels between the Establishment's response to the Hillsborough disaster and the way the government and the NHS colluded to cover up a scandal over more than 30,000 patients being given blood infected with HIV and hepatitis C are striking.

When the second Hillsborough inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing of the Liverpool football fans who died that day, Theresa May, then home secretary, asked me to write a report based on the families' experiences so that their pain and suffering would never be repeated.

As I took on board what they had gone through, a phrase leapt into my mind to describe their ordeal: 'The patronising disposition of unaccountable power.'

It's the title we gave to the report, published in 2017 – and it describes exactly how the blood scandal victims were treated.

They were patronised, belittled and made to feel unimportant – even blamed for their own illnesses.

Every time their relatives and friends asked questions of those in authority about how and why their loved ones had been killed, they were dismissed with platitudes instead of answers.

And the authorities behaved as though they themselves could not be held to account, because they existed somehow beyond the scope of the law.

We've seen this time and again – most recently in the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Sir Brian Langstaff's report, coming at the end of a five-year investigation, is yet another indictment of how bodies which are meant to serve the public end up treating them with contempt.

In the case of the victims of the infected blood scandal, it was a milestone many thought they would never see.

I became involved when the victims and relatives discovered that the Department of Health and Social Care would be overseeing the investigation into allegations that included severe criticism of health officials themselves.

Aware of the work I had done on the Hillsborough disaster, the campaigners asked me to intervene.

They wanted me to ask Mrs May – by then prime minister – to transfer the sponsorship of the inquiry to the Cabinet Office.

Not only did she readily agree to do this but also ensured that the investigation was set up under the 2005 Inquiries Act, which gave it the authority to compel people to appear in front of it and produce documents on demand.

I heard harrowing stories of how doctors, nurses and health officials passed the blame on to victims, who were offered no support or understanding, but simply left feeling very isolated.

We need to change the culture of our institutions. When there's a review into a tragedy, too often they become defensive.

They close ranks and try to protect their reputations and can even go on the attack against their critics, which many did in this case.

In a hushed Westminster Hall on Monday, Sir Brian spoke softly but pointedly about the depth of the tragedies and the need for a radical change of culture in government, in the health service, in the civil service and in public bodies generally.

He pulled no punches. He was direct about the need for change and how patient safety needs to be the primary principle that drives all care.

I fervently hope that his report will lead to a culture shift in all public bodies and puts an end to defending the indefensible behaviour of the past, so that ordinary decent people are no longer patronised and dismissed when things go wrong.

Bishop James Jones is the author of Justice For Christ's Sake: A Personal Journey, published by SPCK Publishing