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Many plaintiffs felt that they had no choice but to accept the settlement offer and they felt that they had no choice but to sign the waiver. A widow recalled that her husband did not want to sign it but he did not think he could afford to fight on alone, either practically or financially. In the end he gave in.

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Some plaintiffs were not entitled to legal aid and were having to make financial contributions towards the costs of the litigation.

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A compilation of letters outlined rules around the litigation and plaintiffs.

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Whilst claimants experienced relief at the modest sums they received and their protection from costs liabilities, many considered the length of time taken from the beginning of the case to settlement of the claims was excessive and that, if the Government had intended to settle the claims, this could have been achieved in a much faster and less adversarial way.

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Ben James, who was infected with HIV as a result of his treatment with blood products and had become involved in campaigning for compensation, wrote to the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher: "No monetary figure can justly be said to equal a life but to remove the financial burden from the victims and their dependents would go some way to enhance the remnants of their lives."

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The CMO expressed the view that "since the emergence of this problem in 1983 the advice given by medical and scientific staff of the Department of Health to Ministers has been both correct and timely bearing in mind the state of knowledge at the time and that there has been no negligence in relation to this advice."

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Memo from Charles Dobson to Mr Alcock regarding the proposed settlement for the Haemophilia/HIV Litigation.

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At a meeting of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs National Executive Council and Parliamentary Committee it was determined that a new problem had arisen with regards to the importation of blood products and the spread of AIDS.

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A memo enclosed a copy of the line to take in respect of Prime Minister's questions. The line called for a need to balance the risk of AIDS against the obvious risks to people with haemophilia from withdrawing supplies of blood products.

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A memo from Diana Walford to Dr Field discussed the recommendation to withdraw the use of American Factor 8 concentrate due to the risk of transmitting AIDS and noted that Dr Diana Walford thought this recommendation was premature as there was not sufficient evidence to restrict the use of imported Factor 8 concentrates.

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Dr Spence Galbraith wrote a paper entitled "Action on AIDS" which he sent to the DHSS. He had reviewed the literature and came to the conclusion that all blood products made from blood donated in the US after 1978 should be withdrawn from use until the risk of AIDS transmission by these products has been clarified.

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The co-ordinator of the Haemophilia Society wrote to the Medical Advisory Panel of the Society to say that a group would be meeting with Geoffrey Finsberg to seek assurance that there would be no immediate ban on the importation of US blood products.

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A special meeting of UKHCDO reference centre directors noted that there was insufficient evidence to warrant restriction of the use of imported concentrates in other patients in view of the immense benefits of therapy and that the situation would be kept under constant review.

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Measures were taken in the US to reduce the risk posed by the concentrates made there.

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The FDA had licensed Hyland Laboratories to market dry-heated concentrate.

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A report of the Committee of Experts on Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology meeting concluded that although "Absolute proof that AIDS is caused by a transmissible infectious agent is not yet available", nonetheless, "the consensus in the Committee was that it should be regarded as such ".

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The directors of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service prepared a leaflet regarding the risk of AIDS, identifying people with haemophilia as being amongst the classes of those who could get AIDS.

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The Council of Europe followed the recommendations of the Committee of Experts on the risk of AIDS.

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Transfusion International, a journal directed at transfusionists, observed in an editorial by an eminent physician that there was relatively strong evidence indicating that AIDS may be transmitted by blood.

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The Committee on Safety of Medicines Sub-Committee on Biological Products decided not to recommend that imports be suspended.

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