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Blood Matters

Presenter

Blanche Girouard

TX Date

19th Feb 2024

Producer

Mike Lanchin

Editor

Kristine Pommert

Broadcaster

BBC Radio 4

Quotes

"Such amazingly powerful stories and really sensitively presented."

Tracy Williams, commissioning executive, BBC Radio 4

During the 1970s and 80s, thousands of people in the UK who were suffering from haemophilia received a revolutionary treatment to stop them from bleeding. The new blood product, known as Factor VIII, was imported from the US and far more convenient than previous NHS treatments.

 Patients and their families felt it was a miracle. They were unaware that the US product carried a potentially deadly health risk. Many of those treated contracted HIV or Hepatitis C.

 In this five-part series, Blanche Girouard hears the devastating stories of people whose lives were irrevocably changed by what’s considered the worst scandal of its kind in the history of the NHS.