Twenty-four people who were exposed to surgical instruments used on a patient later found to have Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) say they are still waiting for news.

The patients concerned were told in November last year they would be contacted within two weeks to be told exactly what their individual risk levels were.

But the patients - who were all operated on at Middlesbrough General Hospital in July - say they have had no news since being informed of the possibility of contracting the disease.

Historically there have only been five cases of CJD transmission from neurosurgical operations.

We have asked the CJD panel for their report and so far they have not supplied it. Dr Paul Lowler, South Tees NHS Trust

The disease can take up to 30 years to incubate.

The surgical instruments concerned were used for a brain biopsy on a woman who, at the time, was not suspected as suffering from sporadic CJD.

The instruments were only quarantined 20 days after she was treated and were used on 29 patients - although five were found not to be at risk.

The patients at the centre of the scare have been told the chances of being infected with the disease are "minuscule".

Long process

Medical Director for South Tees NHS Trust Dr Paul Lowler told BBC Newcastle the hospital was not to blame for the delay.

He said: "We have asked the CJD panel for their report and so far they have not supplied it.

"I don't think the hospital is to blame for any of this, because we really did stick to the rules from the beginning.

"I think we have learned a lot, but that is not the same as blame.

"We would do it, I think, differently, but I think the NHS would do it differently, and I expect the panel's advice, in the event of something like this happening again, to be different."

The CJD incident panel, which is assessing the risks, said the process takes time.