I helped expose the extent of the infected blood scandal – this does not end here

Having investigated the scandal over a number of years for her award-winning podcast and book, Cara McGoogan recounts the relief of an emotional week and why it isn’t over yet...

‘Half a century of shame’: Campaigners have been fighting for justice for years (Getty/PA)

When I attended the opening of the Infected Blood Inquiry at the end of April 2019, I’m ashamed to say I knew very little of the scandal which has now killed some 3,000 people. I heard shocking stories of people who had contracted HIV and hepatitis from medical treatments decades earlier, who had lost loved ones, and been robbed of the chance to have children or careers.

They spoke of children with haemophilia being used as human lab rats at a specialist boarding school and of being cruelly dismissed by institutions that should have helped them. They argued there had been a cover-up from the government and NHS spanning 35 years. 

To my naive ears, it sounded almost implausible and, in recent weeks, I have seen this reaction reflected as people took in the findings to people ahead of the inquiry’s final report.