An inquiry will be held into the contaminated blood scandal that left at least 2,400 people dead, the prime minister has confirmed.

A spokesman for Theresa May said it would establish the causes of the "appalling injustice" which happened
in the 1970s and 1980s.

Countless NHS patients were given blood products from abroad that were contaminated with hepatitis C and HIV.



It has been called the worst treatment tragedy} in the history of the NHS.

Many of those affected and their families believe they weren't informed of the risks involved and there was a cover-up.

Blood catastrophe

A recent parliamentary report discovered around 7,500 patients were infected by imported blood products.



Many were patients with an inherited bleeding disorder called haemophilia.


Picture caption Jason says patients wouldn't have played Russian roulette with their lives if they had known the risks

They needed frequent treatment with a clotting agent Factor VIII, which is made of donated blood.

The UK imported supplies and some turned out to be infected. Much of the plasma used to make Factor VIII came from donors such as prison inmates in the united states, who sold their blood.

Jason Evans was only four years old when his dad Jonathan, a haemophiliac, died after being infected with HIV through contaminated Factor VIII treatment.

Media captionJason Evans' father died of Aids after being infected with infected blood

Jason recently discovered that in late 1984 - his dad had raised concerns with his doctors about Factor VIII but he says he was told "there was nothing to worry about, this is sensationalism and not to pay attention to it. And he trusted his doctor".



BBC Panorama - Contaminated Blood: The Search for the Truth

Families of those who died will be consulted about what form the inquiry should take.

It could be a public Hillsborough-style inquiry or even a judge-led statutory inquiry, '' the prime minister confirmed.

Her spokesman said the decision to hold an investigation was prompted by new evidence. It is not clear what that evidence is.

The Downing Street announcement came hours before the government faced possible defeat in a vote on an emergency motion about the need for an inquiry.



Greater Manchester mayor and former health secretary
Andy Burnham has repeatedly called for a Hillsborough-style probe into what happened.

Mr Burnham claimed in the Commons that a "criminal cover-up on an industrial scale" had taken place.

'Cover-up'

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the inquiry|question should have the potential to trigger prosecutions.

Liberal Democrat former health minister Norman Lamb cautioned that the inquiry must take place urgently to assist survivors in desperate need of help.

Andy Evans, chairman of the campaign group Tainted Blood, said he was delighted the inquiry had been announced.

But he was also being "cautious" as the terms of reference hadn't yet been agreed.

He Was infected with HIV and Hepatitis B and C 35 years ago at the age of five. He said the scandal had ruined the lives several people and said the inquiry now needed to get to the bottom of what happened.

"We Have proof that warnings were ignored and that these products continued to be used despite the warnings and that following the infections... a cover-up."



Liz Carroll, chief executive of The
Haemophilia Society, said: "The government has for decades denied negligence and refused to provide compensation to those affected, this inquiry will finally be able to properly consider evidence of wrongdoing."


Sir Peter Bottomley, co-chairman of the cross-party Parliamentary group on haemophilia and contaminated blood, said the success of the inquiry would lie in it being able to get hold of sensitive information.

"It must have powers to get documents from pharmaceutical companies and government," he said.