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The armed forces were a source of blood donors. Dr Colin Entwistle described these military sessions as "incredibly beneficial" and did not perceive military donors to impose particular extra risks.

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Generally, between 100 and 200 donors would be bled at each session. According to Dr Entwistle, at Oxford about 50% of around 200 donors called would attend plus around 10% walk-ins and at a Cambridge military session there may be as many as 240 donors.

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Each blood donor would be booked in by a member of the clerical staff who should have had a copy of (and/or received training on) the most up-to-date national guidelines produced by the regional transfusion directors, and donors would be given written material on arrival, which set out the eligibility criteria.

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In his oral evidence, Dr Colin Entwistle accepted that discussions about whether or not the donor might have an infectious disease would in effect be taking place in public in an "open forum".

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Dr Colin Entwistle was elected to serve on the care and selection of donors working party by the western division of the regional transfusion centres and tasked with producing the guidelines for donor exclusion. According to Dr Entwistle, the guidelines were "a common agreed policy which everyone can agree to" and were not to be seen as a record of best practice.

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Dr Colin Entwistle, director of the Oxford Centre, did not consider the education of his colleagues on the use of blood to be part of his role.

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According to Dr Colin Entwistle's oral evidence, the haematologists in the Oxford region used to meet every three months or so, which provided a good opportunity for face-to-face discussions.

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Dr Colin Entwistle told the Inquiry that Oxford could have switched from providing plasma to the Blood Product Laboratory to producing cryoprecipitate in a matter of days.

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Dr Colin Entwistle was aware that the question of infection with the AIDS virus was associated with transmission via blood in some form.

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At Oxford (and in common with most regional transfusion centres), in the period leading up to production of the first AIDS leaflet in September 1983, no particular steps were in place to screen out high-risk AIDS donors.

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Once the AIDS leaflets were available, they were put on display at donor sessions but not sent out with the call-up cards. Dr Colin Entwistle suggested this was "not the most appropriate way, not least because that would not cater for the walk-in donors."

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The Oxford Centre held a stock of 13,000 leaflets, had issued approximately 1,000, and had a "now negligible" rate of usage per month, meaning that donors were not picking up and removing the leaflets from where they were displayed.

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Dr Patricia Hewitt wrote to Dr Roger Moore, stating that the North London Blood Transfusion Centre did not supply blood to any military hospitals but did "collect a large number of donations from MOD establishments".

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Dr Donald Smith of the Wessex Blood Transfusion Centre told the Executive Committee of the Haemophilia Society that "the crews of many ships are volunteering as blood donors."

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Dr Donald Smith of the Wessex Blood Transfusion Centre directed his staff to reject donors with any history of jaundice.

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Professor Dame Marcela Contreras told the Inquiry that transfusion centres did not regard military personnel as a high-risk group in the early 1980s.

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According to their written submission to the Inquiry, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service were not aware of evidence that military personnel based in Scotland were at higher risk of HBV, HIV or HCV infection than the general Scottish or UK donor population.

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Dr Jack Gillon told the Inquiry his concern that not all Scottish military donors were voluntary.

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Half the donations in the North London Centre came from sessions taking place at factories and other large workplaces.

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A substantial loss of donors was reported at the North East Regional Transfusion Centre.

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