The board of the Blood Transfusion Service rejected the advice of a medical consultant in the organisation in 1989 who wanted a look-back programme to trace where the blood of donors who subsequently tested HIV positive had gone, the tribunal heard yesterday.
The consultant, Dr Terry Walsh, said when the issue was discussed at a board meeting, members told him he should not be digging up the past. He was accused of creating scares.
Minutes of the meeting showed members were concerned about "potential legal and public relations" aspects of a look-back.
Dr Walsh said they would also have been concerned about maintaining the blood supply. He brought the matter to the attention of the board after a donor tested positive in 1989.
He told the board the donor's previous donations should be traced and that a look-back should also be carried out in respect of the donations of five other donors who tested HIV positive but whose blood had never been traced.
His suggestion met with considerable resistance and while disappointed that a full look-back was not approved, he was "relieved" they agreed a look-back could be conducted in respect of the 1989 donor who tested positive and all others who gave HIV positive donations in the future.
Dr Walsh said it was regrettable a full look-back did not take place. He said it was as a result of this decision taken in 1989 that the BTSB never traced the Kilkenny healthcare worker who tested HIV positive in 1996. She had received a blood transfusion in 1985.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Gerard Durcan SC, suggested to him there could be no logic for doing look-backs in the future and not in the past when donations were "most risky" as they had been made before the introduction of HIV screening.
"It was a flawed policy," Mr Durcan suggested.
Dr Walsh said he accepted a full look-back should have taken place but he had failed to persuade the board of this. He conceded he did not try later to change the "erroneous decision" made by the board.
He first sought a policy decision on look-back in 1986 after the American Association of Blood Banks recommended look-backs be carried out. No policy was formed. It was his view that a look-back should be carried out from July 1987, when he compiled a list of five donors who had gone on to test positive, but he did not have access to the board at this time.
Mr Durcan asked if he sought to have a look-back implemented when he gained access to the board in January 1988 after being appointed chief medical consultant. He said he had an enormous workload at that time and did not do so.