Cover-up fears as hundreds of contaminated blood files 'vanish' before inquiry can see them

Victims of the contaminated blood scandal have raised fears of a cover-up after it emerged hundreds of "crucial" documents were removed by government officials and are now missing.

Following the start of the Infected Blood Inquiry last year a Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) found around 950 files relating to blood policy had been "checked out" by staff over a period of years.

The report was released under Freedom of Information laws to campaigner Jason Evans, whose father died in 1993 having contracted hepatitis and HIV.

The 29-year-old, who is suing the government for negligence, said the removal of documents "probably goes back decades" and could form part of a cover-up.

Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C via contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s, in what has been labelled the biggest treatment scandal in NHS history.

Many of those affected had haemophilia, a blood-clotting disorder, and relied on regular injections of clotting agent Factor VIII, which was made from pooling human blood plasma.

Britain was running low on supplies of Factor VIII so imported products from the US, where prison inmates and others were paid cash for giving blood.

In September, the first UK-wide probe - the Infected Blood Inquiry - heard that more than 25,000 people could have been affected.

Two previous inquiries have been branded a whitewash by campaigners.

The GIAA report released to Mr Evans and dated November 6 2018, said almost 1,000 files relating to blood policy had been checked out by officials.

These included around 450 files checked out by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) staff and a further 500 by Department for Education staff.

It said: "DHSC staff can check out paper files they need from the archives, (they) should return these once finished.

"The records management (RM) team has identified that there are circa 450 files relating to blood policy which have been checked out and not returned, and the RM team is currently working to recover these.

"The team has put up posters around the DHSC offices, asking staff to return any files that they have checked out, and through an item in the DHSC bulletin, the RM Team has reminded staff to return files to storage if they are no longer used."

DHSC would not disclose the content of the files and does not record why they were checked out.

The DHSC said the majority of files have now been accounted for and it is working to locate the remainder.

It also said it has a complete understanding of what is in the files, adding that it was usual practice for DHSC staff to need access to records.

A spokesman said: "We are committed to being open and transparent with the Inquiry and have waived the usual legal privileges to assist the process.

"We have already sent thousands of documents to the inquiry, and will continue to send more when necessary.

"The inquiry has always been free to request any files they wish to review and we will ensure these are shared as soon as possible."

Mr Evans, who runs the campaign group Factor 8, said ministers have for years said that all papers relating to the scandal had been made public or had been destroyed.

He told the Press Association: "The revelations in this new report prove that the ministerial statements were not true.

"The undoubted question that arises now from victims and families is: why were the files removed, and was this part of a cover-up to prevent them knowing the full truth about what happened?"

He added: "I had come across the odd file that had been removed in this way and thought it was suspicious, but I never would have imagined it could have been on this level.

"We're talking about at least tens of thousands of documents within these files."

Mr Evans' solicitor Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, which is representing more than 1,000 victims, their families and seven campaign groups, said: "The sad fact is that despite 1,000 crucial files going 'missing', there is very little that will surprise me in relation to the facts in this important inquiry."

In September, the Infected Blood Inquiry heard emotional testimonies from people infected with HIV and hepatitis.

Eleanor Gray QC, acting for the DHSC, told the inquiry that the treatment of information surrounding contaminated blood products has been "at worst, a cover-up, at best a lack of candour about past events".

Additional reporting by PA