Lord Clarke of Nottingham said that he was “never the minister directly responsible for blood products”The chance to save “thousands of lives” was missed when health officials failed to act on “startling” warnings sent to the government about the risk posed by infected blood products, the former health minister Ken Clarke has told an inquiry. Lord Clarke of Nottingham was in office between 1982 and 1985, during which period it began to emerge that many NHS patients, particularly haemophiliacs, had been infected with HIV from contaminated treatments. SponsoredClarke became yesterday the first minister from the time to appear before the Infected Blood Inquiry. He said that he bore no responsibility for the use of infected drugs in a session that grew heated as he objected to “pointless” questions. Sir Brian Langstaff, the inquiry’s chairman, had to intervene

Source: The Times July 27, 2021 14:17 UTC