26 July 2019

Further dates announced for witness hearings

Additional hearings for people infected and affected and for expert evidence

We can now confirm the dates of the three weeks in London in October when further evidence from people infected and affected will be heard.

The three weeks in October are:

  • Tuesday 8 October to Friday 11 October

  • Tuesday 15 October to Friday 18 October

  • Monday 28 October to Friday 1 November. 

People wishing to register to attend any of these three weeks can do so here from Monday morning.

Following these sessions, we will then hear evidence from the expert groups in February 2020.

  • Monday 24 February - a) the Inquiry’s intermediaries (who have been speaking to people who preferred not to give a full witness statement) and also b) the psychosocial experts, considering the impact on people infected and affected 

  • Tuesday 25 February - further evidence from the psychosocial experts considering the impact on people infected and affected

  • Wednesday 26 February - the clinical experts on current knowledge about hepatitis, including current and past treatments and their consequences, and anticipated future developments

  • Thursday 27 February - the clinical experts on current knowledge about HIV, including current and past treatments and their consequences, and anticipated future developments

  • Friday 28 February - the clinical experts on current knowledge about haemophilia, other blood and bleeding disorders and primary immunodeficiencies

We will confirm the witnesses giving evidence for all these dates in due course.

Chair of the Inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff said: 

“Every part of the UK which the Inquiry has visited has provided important evidence, which  demands careful thought. The experiences of witnesses has been characterised both by their individual differences but also by their many similarities, and the repetition again and again of important themes. 

“I would like to thank each person who has had the courage to give evidence and all those who have listened, both in person and online.

“I am pleased we are now able to offer a further week of hearings in October for those wishing to give oral evidence to the Inquiry. There will be further opportunities for people who have been infected and affected to give evidence throughout the Inquiry from time to time and, as I promised at the outset, at the end as well as at the beginning.

“The evidence of our psycho-social experts should help to contextualise what we have heard already from people infected and affected. Evidence from our clinical experts is intended to set the scene for later hearings which will examine the knowledge, decisions, actions and omissions of all relevant decision-makers. This will begin after a break sufficient to ensure that we have all the evidence needed for these hearings.”