IBTS apologises to donors who received late notification on first testing positive for Hepatitic C on donations made between 1991 - 1993
IBTS apologises to donors who received late notification on first testing positive for Hepatitis C on donations made between 1991 - 1993
The Board of the IBTS was anxious to definitively review all of the data concerning this issue that had first been raised at the time of the Tribunal of Inquiry by Mr. Justice Finlay in 1996/1997. Consequently, the Board engaged an international expert to carry out a review in both Dublin and Cork of all donors who tested positive for Hepatitis C.
The Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) commissioned Professor Bernhard Kubanek to carry out an independent review of all the data relating to the notification of donors between 1991 1994 who tested positive for Hepatitis C. Professor Kubanek presented his report to the Board on 9th March 2005.
Arising from the report the Chairperson, Ms Maura McGrath contacted the representative groups, Transfusion Positive and Positive Action to arrange for some of their members to meet Professor Kubanek for a direct briefing on the Report. These meetings took place at the National Blood Centre in Dublin. During one of these meetings the representative groups sought an apology from the IBTS for the delay in notifying donors of their Hepatitis C result following donations made between 1991 and 1993. The Board was willing to meet this request. Following further discussions with the representative groups on the most appropriate mechanism and wording, the IBTS is today publicly issuing this apology.
Apology
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service wishes to apologise to the donors and to their families for the delay on the part of the service in notifying the donors of their Hepatitis C test results following donations made between 1991 and 1993. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service fully acknowledges the pain and suffering of the donors and their families as a consequence of not informing donors of such results as soon as they became available and for this the Board is deeply sorry.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service is fully committed to ensuring that the highest standards of transfusion medicine practice are applied at all times to maintain the health and safety of donors and of the blood supply both now and in the future.
We will be contacting the relevant donors individually in the coming week. We hope that this sincere apology will help bring closure to this particular issue for the donors concerned and their families.
The Board and Executive and staff of the IBTS are fully committed to ensuring that we take all necessary steps to provide the safest blood to patients in hospitals. This can only be achieved through the professionalism and dedication of all staff of the IBTS and the loyalty and generosity of our donors who provide us with the gift of donation.
ENDS
