‘Moving, angering’ The Times

In the 1970s and 1980s almost 5,000 haemophiliacs were infected with HIV or hepatitis C after being given contaminated NHS blood products. So far more than 2,800 people are known to have died in what has been described as the ‘worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS’.

Sunday Times political editor Caroline Wheeler has been reporting on the scandal for two decades. She has been pivotal to the campaign for justice for the victims, whose stories form the heart of this book. As the long-running Infected Blood Inquiry delivers its final verdict Death in the Blood is an unforgettable epic of human suffering, loss and survival against the odds.

‘Caroline has been so supportive to the victims and survivors of the NHS contaminated blood scandal. She has been an integral part of our long fight for justice and enabled people like me to speak out with confidence, when there was little confidence before’ Ade Goodyear, former pupil at Treloar School

‘This is crusading journalism at its best.’ – Lord Owen

In the 1970s and 1980s almost 5,000 people in the UK contracted HIV or hepatitis C after being infected by contaminated NHS blood products, including the notorious Factor VIII, yet no organisation or individual has ever been held to account. So far, more than 2,800 are known to have died, while tens of thousands more lives have been destroyed in the families of those affected.

Caroline Wheeler has been reporting on this scandal – the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS – for over two decades. She has been integral to the campaign for justice for the victims and their families, and played a pivotal role in persuading Prime Minister Theresa May to agree to the infected blood inquiry in 2019, the findings of which are expected to be published in late 2023.

Death in the Blood will be based on thousands of government documents, court and inquiry transcripts, plus interviews with prime ministers, cabinet ministers, Downing Street advisers, senior civil servants, doctors, and above all the victims and their families whose personal testimony forms the beating heart of this book.