The Blood Transfusion Service Board failed to follow up an option to get blood products for haemophiliacs made in the UK, using a method which safeguarded against hepatitis C transmission.
The possibility was discussed first in October 1986 with Elstree plant representatives. It heat-treated its products to 80 degrees Celsius for 72 hours and this was effective in eliminating transfer of hepatitis C, then known as non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH).
Mr John Finlay SC, for the tribunal, said the handwritten notes of a BTSB official who met the Elstree representatives said there was no evidence of NANBH in UK haemophiliacs since the Elstree products were introduced there in 1985. Elstree said it could not consider producing clotting agents for the BTSB from Irish plasma before January 1988.
Counsel asked Dr Emer Lawlor, deputy medical director of the BTSB, if the board followed up this option in 1988 or the information on its viral inactivation technique. She said there was no record of a follow-up. She did not think the technique could have been applied at Pelican House.
Counsel suggested that knowledge about NANBH became widespread in mid-1985, and there was evidence that heat treatment of factor concentrates could reduce its spread. Dr Lawlor said the treatment reduced but did not eliminate transmission.
A further method of inactivating NANBH was developed by the New York Blood Centre in 1985. Counsel asked if the BTSB considered this. "It would not have been impossible but it would have been difficult," Dr Lawlor said.