A leading civil servant has told the Lindsay Tribunal that the Department of Health "did everything it could" to assist the Blood Transfusion Service in overcoming its financial difficulties in the late 1970s and 1980s. Dermot Smith, Acting Assistant Secretary at the Department, said that they were "responding all the time" to the problems, but could not be expected to "check everything that was done or not done".
Martin Hayden, Senior Counsel for the Haemophilia Society, put it to Mr Smith that it took an "extraordinary event" before the Department became "motivated", even though the BTS' serious financial problems were clearly evident for years. Mr Smith accepted that the Department of Health was aware of financial control and administrative difficulties, but argued that officials could not get involved in the detail and blood bank officials "must accept responsibility".
He suggested that the Blood Transfusion Service "virtually got everything they were looking for" in relation to requests to be allowed to increase charges to hospitals for haemophilia blood products. Mr Smith also stated that the Department had tried to bolster the Board of the BTS to ensure members had a financial background.
Mr Smith described as "exaggerated" a statement by a previous witness for the blood bank, John McStay, who expressed his belief that the blood bank was "verging on financial insolvency" in the early 1980s. He added that the 1980s were "very difficult times" due to severe Government cutbacks; the Department's capital budget in 1988 was reduced from £57m to £41m. Mr Smith told the Tribunal: "I find it difficult to think what else we could have done."
