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00:09 Hello, my name is Alexander Brown.
00:10 I'm a Scotsman's Westminster correspondent.
00:12 And I'm here in London where the long-awaited infected blood
00:16 inquiry has finally published its report.
00:19 In a 2,527-page document, the inquiry found the scandal could
00:24 largely have been avoided.
00:25 And also, most damningly, there was a pervasive cover-up
00:29 to hide the truth of what is, by a margin, the biggest
00:33 disaster in NHS history.
00:36 Having spent, I would say, the last four hours reading this
00:39 report in the building behind you in a closed press room, I
00:41 can tell you it is absolutely harrowing and one of the most
00:44 damning things I've ever seen in this job.
00:47 It found patients were knowingly exposed to risk of
00:49 infection, knowingly, with more than 3,000 people now
00:53 dead as a result.
00:55 It also found a cover-up that saw successive governments
00:58 insist patients had received the best possible medical
01:01 treatment at the time, which we now know for a fact was not
01:04 true, and which the government at the
01:05 time knew was not true.
01:08 Patients were also told they were not at risk of infection.
01:10 They were told they were getting the safest treatment.
01:13 They were not even told they were being tested for AIDS or
01:15 HIV, with parents kept in the dark, even as their children
01:18 were being diagnosed with illnesses that would kill them.
01:21 This is children being given this dangerous blood that they
01:25 did not need and they did not know was dangerous.
01:27 They just weren't told about it.
01:29 More broadly, the report found tests of blood were too slow
01:32 to be introduced.
01:33 People weren't told for years that they were sick.
01:35 And then patients were treated without consent.
01:37 And the children, obviously, as many people were given
01:39 treatment they didn't need.
01:40 I mean, this is universal throughout this whole period.
01:43 And these dangerous blood products are being used, with
01:45 the NHS continuing to import from high-risk donors rather
01:48 than create their own safe supply.
01:50 And this included using blood from prison inmates and drug
01:53 users, which they knew and had been
01:54 advised was more dangerous.
01:56 That's something they just simply ignored.
01:58 The report has now called for compensation and memorials
02:01 to those affected, and for lessons to be
02:04 learned from the disaster.
02:05 We'll be hearing later today from the victims.
02:08 We'll be hearing from the experts and those involved in
02:10 the inquiry, and the Prime Minister as well.
02:12 So for all that and more, stay tuned to thescotsman.com.
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