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The aims of the Haemophilia Society's HCV campaign were to press for the best treatment and care for people with haemophilia and related bleeding disorders infected with HCV.

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An agency was hired, at considerable cost, to steer the Haemophilia Society's HCV media campaign.

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When David Watters joined the Haemophilia Society in early 1981 there were two part-time secretaries working only in the mornings, who were the only other paid employees.

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In his oral evidence, David Watters described how at the outset his paid role was regarded with suspicion by a number of trustees.

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It was suggested in oral evidence that in February 1983 there were around 1,500 members of the Haemophilia Society. Members included "interested" parties, such as family members, nurses and social workers.

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Haemophilia Society trustees attended large London haemophilia centres but did not appreciate the fact that at a local outpatient level "there was really no informed knowledge of haemophilia by the medics who were looking after patients".

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The Haemophilia Society received medical journals from The Lancet and The British Medical Journal but these were rarely ever read. If an article was considered relevant it would be brought to the trustees' attention.

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The Haemophilia Society would have received information from newspaper journalists, pharmaceutical companies, civil servants at the Department of Health and Social Security, the Medical Advisory Panel and the UKHCDO.

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At the beginning of his time at the Haemophilia Society, David Watters suggested there was a "a lack of outreach and lack of grasp of big issues".

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David Watters stated in oral evidence that the make-up of the Medical Advisory Panel was not as diverse as it could have been and consisted of individuals "who had been around for a very long time".

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David Watters stated in oral evidence that the Haemophilia Society prioritised maintaining close relationships with influential clinicians.

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David Watters saw the appointments to the Medical Advisory Panel in the 1980s as nepotistic.

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In the 1980s the Haemophilia Society only took advice from senior members of the UKHCDO which kept them from examining policies on treatment and recommendations made by the UKHCDO.

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In 2017 David Watters was shown a letter produced by the Department of Health around 1980, in which Professor Bloom was told to advise patients to continue to use imported blood products as the benefits outweighed the risks.

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At a board meeting of the Haemophilia Society David Watters and Clive Knight had "great trouble" convincing the trustees of the Executive Committee that AIDS was going to be a problem.

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There was no reference made to AIDS at the Executive Committee of the Haemophilia Society on 3 March 1983.

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At a meeting between the Minister of State for Health and the Haemophilia Society, David Watters believed that self-sufficiency should not be achieved solely for economic reasons, but that "it was based entirely on the health of people with haemophilia."

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In his evidence to the Inquiry, David Watters agreed that non-A non-B Hepatitis was not foremost in the Society's mind in 1981 and it was considered a mild condition.

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Professor Bloom was heavily influential over the Society, however the Society did not seek advice from anyone else.

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Any doubts that the Society may have had about imported products were not expressed to the membership, nor did they lobby against the use of the pre-March US products.

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