The former health secretary, now mayor of Greater Manchester, wrote to each of the five remaining candidates on Friday to coincide with their evidence in the tainted blood inquiry. The public inquiry is looking into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history, with around 3,000 people believed to have died and thousands more infected. Hemophiliacs became infected after being given factor VIII blood products, which used blood contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C imported from the US in the 1970s and 80s. Other people became infected as a result of exposure to contaminated blood through transfusions or after childbirth . The inquiry heard evidence that the government knew about the problem long before it admitted and that the scandal could have been avoided. In the letters to the Conservative leadership candidates, Burnham said: “In preparation for my meeting, I carefully reviewed a significant amount of documentation. I also remembered my many conversations with victims over the years. All of this has led me to a clear conclusion: that the Department of Health, and the agencies for which it is responsible, have been seriously negligent in the safety of individuals in the hemophilia community for five decades to the extent that there can be a case for asking the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] to consider charges of corporate manslaughter.” Burnham, who was also chief secretary to the Treasury, was giving evidence after Sir Robert Francis QC told the inquiry earlier this week about his recommendation in a government-commissioned report that infected survivors should receive a minimum interim £100,000 compensation. Francis said waiting until the end of the investigation to pay compensation risked people dying in the meantime, before they could make their cases. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Referring to Francis’ evidence, Burham wrote in the letters: “There is concern that the leadership election in which you are participating is delaying a decision on this vital issue. This could be avoided if all the remaining candidates were prepared to commit now to making an interim payment of the kind recommended by Sir Robert within days of taking over as Prime Minister. “Such a commitment from all five would allow the public service to start working now on the necessary arrangements and thus minimize further delay, hardship and stress for those affected. Are you ready to make that promise?’ In damning evidence for the inquiry in central London, Burnham said civil servants had provided “inaccurate lines” to ministers about the scandal “primarily due to fear of financial exposure”. He was applauded by the audience when he said the government had “totally failed” the victims of the tainted blood scandal for five decades and hoped the inquiry would put that right. He said that knowing what he knew now, he would never have sent a 2009 letter to an infected person saying “there is no evidence that people were knowingly infected with contaminated blood and blood products.” Before Burnham began his evidence, the chairman of the inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said that in light of Francis’ evidence he had considered using his powers to make a recommendation before the end of the inquiry that interim compensation be paid . Langstaff gave key participants, including the government, until 5 p.m. of July 25 to submit comments on the matter.
