The Sunday Times

Bloody Disgrace

2024

The Sunday Times’ multi-media campaign, Bloody Disgrace, was instrumental in securing a £10billion-plus compensation package for those whose lives were destroyed by the infected blood tragedy, the biggest scandal in NHS history.

Led by Caroline Wheeler, the political editor who had first worked on the story as a trainee reporter in 2001, the campaign told, through words and audio, the harrowing stories of those who were infected with deadly diseases in childhood, and the parents and siblings of those who had not survived. The Sunday Times used all its firepower to get behind the campaign – with interviews on Times Radio, audio on the site, powerful design and dedicated social media promotion.

In the run-up to the publication of the public inquiry’s report into the scandal, the campaign called for a full and fair settlement for the victims of the tragedy paid by a judge-led independent body, including for the parents of children that died and who never received a penny.

It won the support of more than 250 MPs and peers, as well as former prime minister Boris Johnson, ex-Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and the daughter of the late Body Shop founder, Dame Anita Roddick, who was one of thousands to die in the disaster.

During the course of the campaign, Wheeler revealed details of how children were experimented on by doctors without their consent, infecting them with diseases, including HIV and hepatitis. She exposed the full tragedy of Treloar’s, the school for disabled children in Hampshire, where almost 90 former pupils died after receiving contaminated blood. The public pressure the campaign exerted on the government forced ministers to spend more than £10bn on a compensation package.

On the eve of the inquiry’s findings, Wheeler landed an emotional interview with Jeremy Hunt, then chancellor, who revealed that he would honour a promise to a dying friend, Mike Dorricott, by finally delivering justice for the victims. Sir Keir Starmer also wrote for The Sunday Times, backing his decision to make billions available for the payouts – meaning that the victims had secured the support of both main parties.

The campaign, and Wheeler, won plaudits from across the House of Commons and concluded with a live press conference broadcast on the BBC on the afternoon of the public inquiry’s findings.