The Welsh Blood Service is committed to helping the Infected Blood Inquiry find truth and justice for all those whose lives have been so tragically affected.
Infected Blood Inquiry
Infected Blood Inquiry | Velindre University NHS Trust statement
Statement by Steve Ham, Chief Executive Officer, Velindre University NHS Trust, of which the Welsh Blood Service is an operational national service. Read on.
What is the Infected Blood Inquiry?
The Infected Blood Inquiry is an independent public statutory inquiry established to examine the circumstances in which men, women and children treated by national health services in the UK were given infected blood and infected blood products, in particular, in the 1970s, 80s and very early 90s.
The Inquiry took oral evidence from 2019-2023.
The Inquiry’s final report was published on 20 May 2024. You can find further information about the Inquiry’s work here.
Who we are
The Welsh Blood Service was established as an all-Wales Service in 2016 to provide a national blood and transplantation service to the NHS in Wales. Before 2016, the north and south Wales services were separate and accountable to different authorities. Accountability for the south Wales blood service transferred to the newly devolved Welsh Government in 1999. Blood services for the north Wales region were delivered by NHS Blood and Transplant until 2016 when the all-Wales service was established.
The Welsh Blood Service provide life-saving and life-improving treatments from donated blood, stem cells, and a range of related diagnostic and therapeutic services for the people of Wales and beyond. Today, we are responsible for collecting, manufacturing and distributing up to 100,000 lifesaving blood components a year to Welsh hospitals and the patients who rely on us.
The Welsh Blood Service is an operating division of Velindre University NHS Trust. You can read more about the Welsh Blood Service and how it works here.
Our mission is to be recognised by the people of Wales and our peers as a leader in transplant and transfusion services.
Our commitment to supporting the Inquiry
We committed to do all we can to assist in its search for truth and justice for all, with frankness and transparency from the outset. We did this by signing the Charter for Families Bereaved through Public Tragedy which can be viewed here.
We were a core participant during the inquiry. Click here to find out more about what being a core participant means and the list of core participants for the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Our evidence
As part of their evidence gathering exercise, the Infected Blood Inquiry visited the Welsh Blood Service to ascertain what information was held and what documents were important to help them understand how the service operated during the period in question. Any documents requested by the Inquiry were provided along with other evidence.
The Welsh Blood Service and Velindre University NHS Trust also provided statements to the Inquiry in answer to a number of questions they had, including how the Welsh Blood Service operates today. The four UK blood services provided information and evidence to the Inquiry.
To understand how the service operated in the past, current and former employees gave evidence to the Inquiry. You can read evidence presented by Velindre University NHS Trust and the Welsh Blood Service by clicking on the links below:
November 2018, Chief Executive Officer, Velindre University NHS Trust Statement
October 2021, Chief Operating Officer, Velindre University NHS Trust Statement
October 2021, Written Statement, Former Medical Director, Welsh Blood Service
How safety standards have improved
The Welsh Blood Service strives to provide our donors and patients with the best possible experience and delivers safe, high quality, modern and efficient laboratory, diagnostic and transplant services.
Safety standards are rigorous and have greatly improved since the tragic events which are the subject of the Inquiry.
Wales has one of the safest blood supply chains in the world. Every single donation undergoes a comprehensive testing process before the blood is issued to hospitals. Click here to read more about how the Welsh Blood Service tests blood.
We work closely with partners in the UK and internationally to monitor and respond quickly to any emerging issues for the benefit of donors and patients. We are inspected regularly by independent regulators and follow guidelines and advice from expert committees and bodies, many of which have donor or patient representatives as members.
How we keep donors and patients safe
Blood services and blood safety has been transformed not only in terms of technological advances in testing but also in the way that we recruit and ensure that donors are safe to donate.
All blood donors are screened before every donation and their blood is tested in our laboratories before it is sent to hospitals.
Accepting that blood donation and transfusion will never be without risk, we are confident that the systems in place today and our plans to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations means that we can be confident that the actions considered by the inquiry could not happen again.
You may find the links below helpful:
Find out more about the Wales Infected Blood Support Scheme
You can find out more about the Wales Infected Blood Support Scheme on their website here.
You can also get in touch with them by:
- phoning: 02921 500900
- emailing: wibss@wales.nhs.uk
- writing to: Wales Infected Blood Support Scheme, 4th Floor, Companies House, Crown Way, Cardiff CF14 3UB
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to commons questions about the Inquiry and its work here.