‘Seismic’ moment as infected blood scandal victims set for at least £10bn compensation & apology from PM
VICTIMS of the infected blood scandal are set for compensation of least £10billion and an official apology from the PM.
It comes as the final independent inquiry report is published today.
Almost 3,000 people have died and as many as 30,000 are estimated to have been infected due to failings in the 1970s and 1980s.
Blood transfusions and products like plasma were not properly screened and transmitted incurable diseases to NHS patients – often children – who were being treated for bleeding disorders like haemophilia.
Ministers have already paid out more than £400million in compensation to surviving victims and bereaved relatives.
They are this week expected to pledge billions more in cash for families torn apart by the scandal.
Never again can such a damaged community be marginalised and ignored
Kate Burt
Today’s inquiry report is set to reveal how top doctors and politicians failed to act on warnings about the safety of the treatments and allowed the danger to continue for years.
The size of the compensation bill could be a political headache for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt but he wants to honour a 2014 promise to a dying constituent.
PM Rishi Sunak is to address Parliament today to apologise.
Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would also commit to compensation.
Kate Burt, chief of the Haemophilia Society, said: “The Infected Blood Inquiry’s findings today will shock every single person in the UK who cares about truth and accountability from our public servants.
“For decades, governments have dismissed the pain and suffering of those impacted by this scandal and refused to acknowledge the enormity of their failure.
“Far too many people have died believing that no Prime Minister would ever take responsibility for what happened to them.
“Never again can such a damaged community be marginalised and ignored by the institutions set up to support them.
“For the sake of the thousands of people who have died and those whose lives continue to be blighted by this terrible scandal, it is vital that the inquiry’s recommendations are acted upon.”
BOYS' SCHOOL DEVASTATED BY VIRUSES
Ade Goodyear was one of around 120 haemophiliac children infected with HIV and Hepatitis through contaminated blood products at the specialist school, Treloar College, in the 1970s and 1980s.
At least 72 have since died – including four boys who were in the office with Ade when he was told he was HIV-positive and had just two or three years to live, at age 15.
Many never saw their 30th birthday.
Ade, from Alton, Hampshire, also lost two brothers to the scandal and told The Sun in 2021: “Every year, at Treloar’s reunion, there are so many faces missing – and they shouldn’t be.”
Steve Nicholls, 54, from Farnham, Surrey, left the school in 1983 and was mourning his first classmate just a year later.
By the late 1980s he was hearing about pals who had died on a weekly basis.
“I dreaded the phone ringing, because you knew it was going to be about someone else who had passed away,” he said.
“We use the term Blood Brothers, because we became like brothers at Treloar’s, and to see your friends die so young is heartbreaking.
“The mental scars will never heal.”
The independent inquiry was ordered by then-Prime Minister Theresa May in 2017.
It has cost more than £130million and heard from hundreds of witnesses including doctors, politicians, victims, families and scientists.
One victim infected with HIV and hepatitis when he was just 12 years old told The Sun: “We hope this report will be the truth of the medical side of things but it won’t be the end.
“We’re still fighting for compensation and that will continue, and there will be things we will never know.”
Both the viruses can take years or even decades to cause symptoms and many people do not realise they have them – increasing the risk that they miss out on vital treatment and spread them to others.
GP Dr Zoe Williams said: “It is truly shocking to think that there are potentially many individuals out there who have Hepatitis C due to the tainted blood scandal, but are unaware.
“It’s incredibly important to raise awareness and ensure that anyone who could be at risk knows how to get tested for Hepatitis C, and also HIV.
“Anyone who received a blood transfusion, or other blood products, between 1970 and 1991 in the UK could be at risk and should get tested.”
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “This was an appalling tragedy that never should have happened.
“We are clear that justice needs to be done, and swiftly.
“We will continue to listen carefully to the community as we address this dreadful scandal.”
WHAT IS THE INFECTED BLOOD SCANDAL?
THE contaminated blood scandal has been described as one of the worst in NHS history and stems from blood transfusions and blood-derived medicines used in the 1970s and 1980s.
These medical products were injected into patients, often children, who had blood disorders like haemophilia, which stops clotting and can cause severe bleeding.
Unlike regular blood donations, plasma products such as Factor VIII were often sourced from the United States and elsewhere and, as donors there could be paid to give blood, some donations came from high-risk people such as prostitutes and prisoners who are more likely to have blood diseases.
Tens of thousands of donations were mixed together for a single batch in some cases, but it only took one infected donor to contaminate an entire batch and infect patients.
At the time, the NHS had stopped paying donors for whole blood donations to reduce the risk but we could not make enough in Britain so it they had to be imported.
As patients began to fall ill it was later discovered that thousands had been infected with HIV and hepatitis by the blood of poorly tested donors.
More than 2,900 people have died as a result of the scandal and tens of thousands are believed to have been directly infected or caught a virus from a relative or partner.
Campaigners say doctors and politicians ignored warnings about what would happen and then covered up their failings when patients began to fall ill.
Survivors and their families were entitled to £100,000 each in compensation in 2022 and more is expected after the publication of the the full inquiry on May 20, 2024.