School ‘so sorry' to ex-pupils affected by infected blood scandal, court told
The charity which runs a boarding school where former pupils received medical treatments using contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s has said it is 'so sorry' that they 'have been victims of this tragedy'.
Several former pupils of the Lord Mayor Treloar School and College in Hampshire, which at the time was a boarding school for children with haemophilia, are taking legal action against the Treloar Trust, which operates the site.
They are seeking compensation over claims that the school gave them unlawful treatments involving contaminated blood products, which infected them with a variety of diseases including HIV and Hepatitis A, B and C, without their or their parents' knowledge.
Lawyers for the former pupils claim that more than 70 former pupils have died since their time at the school, with those still alive telling the PA news agency that they were given a 'death sentence'.
At a hearing on Wednesday, barristers for the trust apologised to former pupils in attendance, stating it was 'acutely aware of the pain and suffering and the loss' they had endured.
Reading a statement on the trust's behalf, Toby Riley-Smith KC said it was 'so sorry' that many former pupils 'were among those infected with hepatitis and HIV, as a result of treatment with contaminated blood products'.
He said: 'It is so sorry that as a result, they and their loved ones have suffered so much, and for so long.
'It is so sorry that they have been victims of this tragedy, which Sir Brian Langstaff has described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, a tragedy that has been compounded by the fact that it has taken so long for their plight to be recognised.'
The contaminated blood scandal is widely seen as the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history.
Several pupils sent to Treloar's in the 1970s and 1980s because of their haemophilia – an inherited disorder where the blood does not clot properly – were given treatment at an on-site NHS centre while receiving their education, but it was later found that they were treated with contaminated plasma blood products.
Last year, the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, written by inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff, said that the children at Treloar's were 'often regarded as objects for research', and that there was 'no doubt' that healthcare professionals at the school were aware of the risks of virus transmission.
Victims of the scandal are set to receive up to £2.7 million each with a £10,000 'unethical research' fee in addition.
A higher award of £15,000 has been offered to those who were experimented on at the school, but this sum has previously been described as a 'kick in the teeth' by former pupils, and which their barrister, Andrew Goddard KC, said on Wednesday was 'inadequate'.
The former pupils began legal action in 2022, with the latest hearing dealing with preliminary issues in the claims, including how to manage them going forward.
Mr Goddard told the court that the cases should be managed together, claiming in written submissions that there was a 'substantial number' of former pupils who were 'subject to similar conduct' at the school.
In court, he said the school 'knew of and was involved in the research projects', that the pupils were used as 'guinea pigs', and that they had gone through 'sheer hell'.
He also said that the schoolchildren were 'experimented on', and that in one case, the research conducted at the facility at the school was for a doctor's PhD thesis.
While he said the words of the apology were 'sincere', he said: 'What they don't include is any apology for what the school did. It is not a question of what has happened to these people, it is about apologising for what the school did.
'These claimants are motivated by what happened to them, by a desire to see some form of accountability.'
He said the former pupils had 'sheer astonishment that the school always seeks to pass the blame to someone else (and) that the school will not hold up its hands'.
The trust is resisting the bid to have the cases managed together, with Mr Riley-Smith telling the court that while the trust 'understands completely why they would now seek, and why they deserve compensation', the government's Infected Blood Compensation Scheme is 'the best way to achieve the compensation they deserve'.
Addressing the former pupils, he added: 'Treloar's has asked me to make it clear that although we may disagree with your lawyers on issues of liability and the appropriate way in which your claims for compensation should be decided and managed, nothing we say today should be seen in any way as minimising the suffering of the victims.'
Judge David Cook said he will hand down his ruling on the preliminary matters in writing at a later date.
He began the hearing by addressing former pupils, stating that it was 'beyond argument that what has happened is a tragedy and that tragedy has been amplified by the time it has taken the state, and various interested parties, to properly address the issues that have occurred here'.
Following the hearing, a spokesperson for Treloar's said: 'After careful consideration of the evidence, the judge has decided to reserve his judgment on a GLO. Both parties have put forward their arguments in this case and they will now be carefully considered.
'While we fully sympathise with our former students' campaign, we firmly believe that the best route to receive timely and substantial recompense is via the Government compensation scheme.
'We urge the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) to pay the levels of compensation that have already been set as soon as possible.'
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