The taintedblood Timeline  -  what really happened...

Claims that hundreds of hospital patients were secretly tested for a killer disease and then kept in the dark for up to 6 years about the results are to be investigated by the GMC.

Lord Morris, president of the Haemophilia Society, said: "At the very least the Government has a moral responsibility to compensate these people. With every new piece of information that comes to light the need for a public inquiry increases."

GMC guidelines state health professionals "must obtain consent before testing for a serious communicable disease. Some conditions, such as HIV, have serious social and financial, as well as medical, implications. In such cases, you must make sure that the patient is given appropriate information about the implications of the test, and appropriate time to consider and discuss them."

GMC guidelines state that even for the purposes of research, patients must be given full counselling and the right to refuse permission for the test.

Also, in cases where a patient is in denial about his or her illness, the GMC states that a doctor has a duty to disclose that information.

"I think you have to accept the fact that things were done differently in the past"

A spokesman said: "We are looking into the issue of the way patients were treated for blood borne diseases."

"We will look at the complaints and if we have found that there is evidence of professional misconduct we can take it to a final public hearing."

Dr Charles Saunders, the chairman of the British Medical Association's Public Health Committee in Scotland, said it was a "very disturbing" story.