The shocking figures that highlight the scale of the contaminated blood scandal

ITV News Correspondent Rebecca Barry reports on the final day of the long-running public inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal

The long-running inquiry into what has been called the worst treatment disaster in NHS history is wrapping up on Friday, five years after it began.

It comes decades after HIV and Hepatitis viruses were spread to patients through contaminated blood transfusions between 1970 and 1991.

Nobody has ever been prosecuted, but thousands have suffered directly from the scandal with infections – and unknowingly passed them on to partners.

Formal conclusions and recommendations will be published in a final report this summer, with some victims having already been compensated.

The key figures behind the infected blood scandal

  • Around 5,000 people with haemophilia and other blood disorders were infected with Hepatitis C or HIV through treatment with contaminated blood

  • More broadly, it is estimated 26,800 people contracted Hepatitis C through blood transfusions

  • 1,243 people with blood disorders were infected with HIV - and fewer than 250 of those are still alive

  • 380 of those infected with HIV were children

  • It is estimated more than 3,000 people have died in total

  • At least 500 of those deaths happened since the inquiry was announced in 2017, the Haemophilia Society estimates

  • Interim compensation of £100,000 was paid to those registered on a UK infected blood support scheme in October – around 4,000 people

  • Campaigners called for an inquiry for 30 years until former prime minister Theresa May announced it would open in 2018

  • The inquiry has taken evidence from more than 5,000 witnesses during hearings across all four nations of the UK

Call for greater compensation

Kate Burt, the chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, is among those calling on the government to work with affected communities and branch out its compensation scheme.

Payments have so far excluded bereaved family members.

The families who lost loved ones to the infected blood scandal won't rest until everyone gets justice, ITV News' Charlie Frost reports

"The Infected Blood Inquiry has given our community hope and confidence that truth and justice will finally be delivered," she said.

"[The] government must address mistakes of the past by acknowledging what went wrong and committing to pay full compensation to those infected and their families."

The government, meanwhile, said the interim compensation payments show it accepts its “moral responsibility” to help victims.

Eleanor Grey KC, for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), delivered a closing statement to the inquiry in January.

She hailed the “important and salutary” work of the inquiry and said it has “given a powerful voice” to patients harmed by contaminated blood treatments and to their loved ones.

But Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors and adviser to 1,500 victims, claimed Ms Grey’s closing remarks on Wednesday were “brief and frankly underwhelming” and called for a "full and explicit apology."

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