Infected blood scandal: families of victims say they're still waiting for closure decades on
The government has been praised for listening to the families of infected blood victims, although they say decades on they are still yet to feel closure.
Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds announced yesterday that victims would receive support scheme payments for life, while those who were subjected to unethical research will get up to £15,000 extra.
Infected people – both living and dead – will start receiving payments through the new framework by the end of this year, while for others affected by the scandal, payments will begin in 2025, the Cabinet Office said.
It comes after senior barrister and Infected Blood Inquiry interim chairman Sir Robert Francis KC made 75 proposals to address concerns with the current compensation plans, with the government accepting the majority of them.
Louise Edwards, from Churwell in Leeds, was just 12 when she lost her dad Jack, after his haemophilia treatment was tainted with hepatitis C and HIV.
The 51-year-old told the Yorkshire Post that she “welcomed” the new compensation process as “it has shown somebody is taking on board what we’re saying and someone is listening”.
“It’s another step further,” she said, “it’s further than we’ve ever been before.
“I do think, are we going to have to jump through any more hoops? What is the next thing that is going to pop up?
“We’re still waiting for the tariffs to be published, which they haven’t done.”
She also criticised the £15,000 payment for those subjected to unethical medical testing.
“While it’s not about the money, that sum doesn’t feel right,” Ms Edwards said.
“People are still dying, they’re still dying now - some died while they were waiting for the government to get their fingers out.”
Earlier in the year, Sir Brian Langstaff published the Inquiry’s final report on the scandal, which found it “could largely have been avoided” and there was a “pervasive” cover-up to hide the truth.
NHS patients were injected with blood and plasma from the USA, which had been donated by criminals and drug users, from the 1970s to 1990s.
More than 30,000 people contracted HIV, hepatitis or other deadly diseases as a result and are still living with the consequences to this day.
People continued to be given infected blood, even after the risks were known, and in some cases children were not even told they had contracted HIV.
September will mark 39 years since her father Jack died, aged 47, and Ms Edwards said it still hasn’t “officially been recognised what happened to us as children”.
“We lost our father, our family was basically torn apart through no fault of our own. Nobody’s acknowledged what we’ve lost.”
She said Mr Edwards, a foreman at the former John Collier clothing warehouse on Kirkstall Road, would “have loved it so much” to see his grandchildren.
Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “No amount of money can ever make up for what happened there, or indeed what has happened to people across the community, or people who have lost children and other relatives.
“But what the Government is putting forward here on recommendation of Sir Jonathan Montgomery and Sir Robert Francis is a scheme that will provide in so many cases money that will make a change in the lives of people.”