Written question asked by Colin Breed (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 3 November 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 5 November 2009. It was answered by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Monday, 9 November 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Hepatitis C

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of service personnel who contracted hepatitis C virus through treatment in hospital in each of the last 30 years.

Answer: It is estimated that the number of such cases in the UK in recent years is very small, but definitive information is not held centrally. To provide the information requested would require the identification and examination of the individual medical records of service patients who contracted hepatitis C and had received in-patient treatment in any hospital worldwide during the last 30 years. Such records should only be viewed for non-clinical reasons with the express consent of each individual concerned in order to protect patient confidentiality, and the information could therefore be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information