Infected-blood victim 'angry' at lost records

Ann Swan contracted hepatitis C after being given infected blood

A patient diagnosed with hepatitis C following a blood transfusion, says she is "angry" at being told her medical records have been lost.

Ann Swan is unable to claim for compensation in the infected blood scandal of the 1970s because there is no record of her having received a blood transfusion.

The artist based in Rowde in Wiltshire said she was given a transfusion in 1976 while being treated for an accident at work.

She said she only learned she had hepatitis C many years later when doctors informed her as she was being sedated for another medical procedure in 1995.

When she requested her blood transfusion notes from the hospital, she said the hospital told her it could not find them.

A public inquiry into the blood scandal is due to reveal its findings in May, after which the government has said it will make a decision about compensation claims.

'Why am I last?'

Ms Swan said: "In August 1976 I had an accident... I had a ruptured spleen and I'd lost a lot of blood and I was passing in and out of consciousness and that night they gave me plasma.

"Then in September, I went yellow and I went back to the [now closed] Middlesex Hospital in London and they said I had jaundice."

Ms Swan, 75, said until 1983 she carried on with her life until she became ill again, believing she had ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue illness), adding she went back and forth to the doctors for tests.

She said her doctors believed she was depressed and had encouraged her to exercise.

"This was Christmas... we took the dogs out across the lake and I collapsed and I was really ill after that. And then eventually the doctor thought I had ME and it wasn't until 1994 when I had a colposcopy and they did a blood test at the time and said I needed a biopsy."

A month later, she said she received a letter inviting her in for day surgery. The letter ruled out that she had hepatitis A or B but "just before they put me out I said 'Why am I last?' and the anaesthetist said 'because you have hepatitis C'." That was the first time she said she knew she had the virus.

Ann Swan is now an artist in Rowde

A public inquiry into the infected blood scandal will announce its findings in May after months of delays.

Read more on the infected blood inquiry

• Infected blood scandal: What is it and who gets compensation?

• The school where dozens died in NHS blood scandal

• Infected blood inquiry: Five things we have learned

• How 175 British children were infected with HIV

• 'I'll keep fighting until everyone is compensated'

'I felt dirty'

Ms Swan said she attempted to trace her medical records from London in order to submit a claim for loss of earnings, and compensation, but the hospital told her it could not find them.

"I haven't met a lot of people with hepatitis C because over the last 10 years, it was something you just didn't talk about... because of the associations that you might be a heroin addict.

"I felt dirty every time I bled, like if I was brushing my teeth and my gums bled I'd think 'that's poison'."

Giving evidence in the final stages of the public inquiry, she said: "My family keep saying to me 'you've got to fight for compensation'... but I can't prove that I actually had the transfusion because my records have gone and this has happened to so many people - and that's the bit that I'm angry about."