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A young woman was infected with HIV as a result of a two-unit blood transfusion following the birth of her first child. Her second child was later infected in utero. Her husband was also infected.

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In her written statement to the Inquiry, Baroness Bottomley noted that the Government's judgement in the early 1990s was that arguments for treating those infected through blood transfusions should be the same as people with haemophilia infected through blood transfusions were outweighed by the need to protect against falling into a no-fault compensation scheme.

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David Mellor suggested that there was never any likelihood that payments would not be extended to transfusion patients, and no merit in the distinction between people with haemophilia and transfusion recipients infected with HIV, but that "there needed to be a bit of grief along the way...people can't have easy wins. If you are the Treasury you have to lose in a tough minded way".

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An article in The Observer titled "Killer disease alert over gay blood donors" described the coming risk of AIDs. The article stated, "The disease, characterised by a collapse in the body's ability to fight infection, is a medical time-bomb for Britain. Although only fifteen cases have been reported since it first crossed the Atlantic in December 1981, many more people could be harbouring it, for the incubation period is up to three years."

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The Alliance of Blood Operators Risk-Based Decision-Making Framework for Blood Safety, which applies eight general principles, is the internationally recognised framework for risk-based decision-making.

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The Chief Medical Officer wrote to to all hospital consultants and GPs in Northern Ireland to say that the HCV lookback exercise would be completed by 1995.

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HCV lookback did not look at all cases. The exercise concentrated only on those donors who happened to come back to give blood. It did not address Hepatitis C infection from donors who did not return.

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Marguerite Weatherseed wrote to Dr Metters to accept improvements were required in communication between the Blood Transfusion Service and hospitals where there were particular problems and offering assistance to overcome the bottlenecks.

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The Department of Health claimed the reason for no national lookback was that there was no treatment available for Hepatitis C, which meant once individuals were found, and it was established they had been infected with Hepatitis C, then there was no form of treatment to offer them.

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George Tucker wrote to the Minister's private secretary and clarified that after Westminster's agreement to undertake a Hepatitis C lookback, the plan was for a harmonised approach.

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A minute from Roger Scofield recorded that Hepatitis C had moved from being "a problem on the horizon to a highly political and volatile policy issue".

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The "Evening Standard" reported that the UK Government was considering introducing a lookback, following the death of 12 people with haemophilia and concern about the risk to 3,000 patients who had received blood transfusions. However, there was no reference to undertaking a Hepatitis C lookback within the briefing note sent to the Prime Minister and Health Ministers.

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Dr Andrzej Rejman reported to Dr Metters that the lookback exercise was not being pursued with enough vigour.

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Westminster's position was that the announcement could not go ahead until there was agreement between all territorial departments.

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The establishment of the Hepatitis C Look Back Working Party gave no reason for Scotland to arrange for HCV lookback alone. Scotland was noted to be ready to proceed but was waiting for the other nations to catch up.

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In a policy paper on the current position on Hepatitis C, it was recorded that "Ministers decided not to speed up detection as the bottleneck would then transfer to hepatology clinics."

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The MSBT identified two major bottlenecks that slowed down the lookback exercise: hospital records and counselling.

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At an MSBT meeting it was noted that the lookback had been slower in achieving its objectives than had been predicted and a number of options were considered.

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The "Evening Standard" reported that the UK Government was considering introducing a lookback, following the death of 12 people with haemophilia and concern about the risk to 3,000 patients who had received blood transfusions.

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An article published in "The Independent" highlighted the growing concern about the hepatitis risk to people with haemophilia.

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