The NHS Infected Blood Scandal Explained | IEA Podcast

In this episode of the IEA Podcast, host Reem Ibrahim is joined by guest Andy Mayer, Chief Operating Officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs, to discuss the shocking findings of the UK Infected Blood Inquiry. The inquiry found that over 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products by the NHS in the 1970s and 1980s.

This week's question: Why did the NHS cover up the blood Infection scandal?

Mayer provides insight into why the scandal occurred, accusing the NHS, clinicians, and successive governments of repeatedly failing patients and covering up the risks for decades to avoid paying compensation. He argues that the institutional nature of the NHS, lacking market incentives for transparency and innovation, enabled this catastrophic failure that cost thousands of lives.

Mayer makes a strong case that introducing market mechanisms to the blood supply system could have prevented the scandal or resolved it much sooner by incentivising higher quality suppliers, product diversity, and innovation in safer blood treatments.

00:00 - Introduction to the UK Infected Blood Scandal
03:25 - Scale of the scandal and inquiry findings
07:07 - Historical debate around UK blood supply system
09:14 - Public choice theory and institutional incentives
14:17 - How market mechanisms could have prevented the scandal
18:12 - The role of markets in spurring innovation
22:19 - Putting patients/customers first through markets
25:43 - Addressing criticisms blaming private companies
28:15 - Allowing bad institutions to fail increases transparency
30:21 - Implementing institutional reform to prioritise patients
31:54 - Concluding discussion

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