At least £100,000 should be paid to all infected blood victims and bereaved partners across the UK, the chairman of the inquiry into the issue has said. The compensation should be paid “without delay” to those affected, Sir Brian Langstaff wrote in an interim report published on Friday.
The number of people who died in what has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS is approximately as high as 2,400.
The chairman said he had made the report in light of the inquiry hearing evidence of “profound physical and mental suffering” caused by the scandal. In a letter to Paymaster General Michael Ellis accompanying the report, Sir Brian said: “As you will read, it was the force of Sir Robert Francis QC’s recommendation of an interim payment, as amplified by him in the course of his oral evidence to the inquiry, that caused me to reflect on whether I should exercise my powers to make such a report.
“I believed that elementary justice required that I consider this question. No submission made to me argued that I should not make a recommendation.
“Having considered the submissions and reflected on the evidence this inquiry has heard of profound physical and mental suffering across a wide range of backgrounds, from a diversity of places and in a variety of personal circumstances, I considered it right that I should make this report.
“I recommend that: (1) An interim payment should be paid, without delay, to all those infected and all bereaved partners currently registered on UK infected blood support schemes, and those who register between now and the inception of any future scheme; (2) The amount should be no less than £100,000, as recommended by Sir Robert Francis QC.”
It comes after a report on the interim payments by Sir Robert, who studied options for a framework for compensation for victims of the infected blood tragedy, was published in June.
The inquiry was established to examine how thousands of patients in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
About 2,400 people died in what has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.
Des Collins, senior partner at Collins Solicitors, who represents families and those affected by the scandal, said the report was a “welcome development” but compensation had been “due for decades”.
“These immediate interim payments for some of the most vulnerable will, at last, provide some financial compensation that many of those suffering have been due for decades,” he said.
“Whilst coming too late for the thousands who have tragically passed away over the intervening years since they were infected, it is a welcome development for some of those still living with the dreadful repercussions of this avoidable treatment failure.
“We look forward to the day when all victims of this scandal are properly compensated for their suffering and for those whose decisions led to the ruining of countless innocent lives being held to account.
“We now await the Government’s response, and would like to thank the IBI chair Sir Brian Langstaff for recognising the importance of today’s recommendations.”
In a short statement at the end of Friday’s hearing, Sir Brian made clear his recommendation did not have to be accepted by the Government.
“Please also remember I have no power to order interim payments: my sole power is to make a recommendation. It does not have to be accepted by Government, nor does it have to be accepted in full,” he said.
He also apologised to those who would not be eligible for compensation under the scope of the recommendation, but stressed the inquiry’s work was still ongoing.
A final report into the matter is yet to be published, Sir Brian said.
“I know that this will be disappointing for some of you who may fall into neither category and I apologise for that,” the chairman said.
“I ask those who are disappointed to remember that this is not the end of the inquiry’s work, and the question of compensation, and its scope is not resolved in this short report on interim payments.”
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