Earlier this week, Specters Solicitor Soyab Patel was contacted by BBC DriveTime with Eddie Nestor to comment on the opening of a public inquiry into a blood transfusion scandal from the 1970s and 1980s.
Soyab had the following comment on his interview:
“I am sure it hasn’t escaped anybody’s attention this week that the public inquiry into what has been called ‘the worst treatment scandal in the history of the NHS’ opened on Tuesday. The inquiry is being led by retired Judge, Sir Brian Langstaff and apparently could last for more than two years.
It is a tragedy in itself as to what has occurred and no doubt more will come out during the inquiry but the delay in itself is astounding. The sheer volume of people that have been affected and the fact that the first signs that something was very wrong came about in 1982 should be a cause for concern for all of us. More than 2000 people who were infected with Hepatitis C or HIV in the 1970s and 1980s are thought to have died. It wasn’t until July 2017 that it was announced that a public inquiry into the scandal was going to take place.
I was contacted by BBC London yesterday for a live discussion with Eddie Nestor on his drive time show. Inevitably, parallels can be drawn between this inquiry and others such as Hillsborough. The passage of time in this case is troubling when it comes to evidence and accountability. Organisations continue to be fined following prosecutions but when the tax payer picks up the bill that is questionable. For instance, Network Rail were prosecuted and fined 4 million in relation to the Grayrigg train derailment, ultimately borne by the tax payer!”
