***UPDATE*** THE mother of a seven-year-old who died after receiving contaminated blood has said the apology from David Cameron to victims of the scandal is not enough.

It has been 25 years since Colin Smith, from Newport, died from AIDS after he received contaminated blood while in hospital with an ear infection.

He was one of at least 1,757 people with haemophilia, a genetic disease where blood doesn’t clot properly, who died after being treated with infected blood from the 1970s to early 1990s.

Mum Janet Smith, now 59, has never stopped fighting for an official apology from the government and has been waiting for the results of the Penrose Inquiry into the scandal.

The inquiry, chaired by Lord Penrose, found more should have been done to screen blood and donors for hepatitis C in the early 1990s and said the collection of blood from prisoners should have stopped earlier.

But Mrs Smith said: “Yes, we have an apology. But the Penrose inquiry has been a whitewash.

“The inquiry results are what we have been waiting for but there’s uproar at the moment. The inquiry has just not given them anything positive. It’s not really the result everybody hoped for.

“Although we have had an apology, there is more to it”.

DAVID CAMERON has apologised on behalf of the British government to victims of the contaminated blood scandal.

The Prime Minister also confirmed £25 million of funding to improve financial support for the NHS patients who were infected with hepatitis C and HIV during the 1970s and 1980s.

Newport boy Colin Smith, a haemophiliac, died in January 1990 after contracting HIV from infected blood. He was seven years old.

He was diagnosed with the virus when he was just two years old and his mother Janet said by the time he died in 1990, he weighed just 13lbs.

Today's apology comes after a comprehensive inquiry, set up by the Scottish Government to investigate what went wrong, called for people who had a blood transfusion before 1991 to now be tested for hepatitis C.

The probe, chaired by Lord Penrose, found more should have been done to screen blood and donors for hepatitis C in the early 1990s and said the collection of blood from prisoners should have stopped earlier.

Mr Cameron said: "To each and every one of those people I would like to say sorry on behalf of the Government for something that should not have happened."

At Prime Minster's Questions, Mr Cameron pledged to respond to the findings of the inquiry if he is returned to No 10 at the general election.

He added: "While it will be for the next government to take account of these findings, it is right that we use this moment to recognise the pain and the suffering experienced by people as a result of this tragedy.

"It is difficult to imagine the feelings of unfairness that people must feel at being infected with hepatitis C and HIV as a result of a totally unrelated treatment within the NHS."

Opposition leader Ed Miliband said Labour would act on the findings if the party wins on May 7.

He told the Commons: "We undertake today to carry these recommendations forward as well."

Scotland Health Secretary Shona Robison also apologised on behalf of the NHS and the Government in Scotland.

She accepted the inquiry's single recommendation that steps should be taken to offer blood tests to anyone in Scotland who had a blood transfusion before 1991 and who has not already been tested for hepatitis C.

She also confirmed that the Scottish Government will review and improve the financial support schemes offered to those affected and their families.

This review will be concluded before World Haemophilia Day in April 2016, she said.

Ms Robison said: "On behalf of the NHS and Government in Scotland, I would like to say sorry to everyone who has been affected by this terrible tragedy. We recognise just how catastrophic this was for everyone affected.

"While this was a UK - indeed international issue - I hope that today's report means that those affected in Scotland now have at least some of the answers they have long called for."

She added: "I will meet families and those affected today to personally express that apology, and to talk about our response to the inquiry report.

"The First Minister will confirm that apology on behalf of the NHS and Government in Scotland in Parliament tomorrow, and I will make a full statement in the chamber tomorrow afternoon.

"The people affected are first and foremost in our minds, and I hope that the publication of this detailed and thorough report will, at the very least, give them the comfort of knowing that the circumstances have now been thoroughly investigated in Scotland."

 

 

IN JANUARY, mum Janet Smith, aged 59, told the Argus she wants justice so her son can rest in peace.

Colin was just one of at least 1,757 people with haemophilia, a genetic disease where blood doesn’t clot properly, who died after being treated with infected blood in the UK from the 1970s until the early 1990s.

He contracted HIV and hepatitis C after being given the clotting protein Factor VIII from an American prisoner.

Weighing just 13lb when he died, he was so light his parents had to pick him up in a sheepskin.

“There was just nothing left - it was heartbreaking,” said Mrs Smith.

Back in the 1980s, HIV was still a new and poorly understood infection, and the Smiths, from Aberthaw Road, Alway, said they became known locally as the ‘AIDS family’ after they found out about Colin’s condition when he was just a toddler.

Janet said: “All Colin ever knew was hospital treatments and drugs.”

Secrecy surrounding his condition continued even after his death, as the family only found out he had also been infected with Hepatitis C when they received cards in the post asking them to come in for a test three years later.

“We didn’t even know he had it. I asked the doctor, “what did Colin die of, AIDS or Hep C?” He just looked at me and said it could have been either,” said Mrs Smith.

January 13 marked the 25th anniversary of his death, and the family went to visit his grave, lay flowers and give him cards.