IN THE light of the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, officials have launched a new scheme to help identify people who may have unknowingly been given infected blood.

People aged 29 and over who newly register with GP practices in England will be asked if they had a blood transfusion prior to 1996, NHS England said.

If so, they will be offered a test for hepatitis C — a silent killer as people can be infected unknowingly for decades before symptoms appear and significant damage has already been done.