“I remember Ray coming home in a distressed state and telling me what he had and that it would kill him." Manchester families are giving evidence to the Infected Blood Inquiry which continues this week with testimony from the city’s mayor, Andy Burnham.
The infection of up to 30,000 people with HIV or hepatitis C from contaminated blood has been called the NHS’s biggest treatment disaster. The scandal has prompted an independent inquiry, following the deaths of thousands after contaminated blood products were imported from the US in the 1970s and 1980s, often from prisoners, sex workers and drug addicts who were paid to give their blood.
Among the Manchester participants is Louise Walmsley, who faced tragedy when her husband, Ray, suddenly died in 2018. Ray had undergone a blood transfusion in 1991, only to discover that the blood was contaminated with hepatitis C.
