More victims of the infected blood scandal will die without ever receiving complete compensation, said a Minister of the Government.
The payer general Nick Thomas-Symonds testified to a special session of the public inquiry on what has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.
It is believed that 30,000 patients in the United Kingdom were infected with HIV or hepatitis B and C after being treated with a contaminated blood coagulation product or gave blood transfusion in the 1970s and 80s.
Mr. Thomas-Symonds agreed that he was “deeply unsatisfactory” that only 106 final remuneration awards were paid, almost a year after the publication of an overwhelming report on the scandal.
“I never think it is satisfactory until everyone has received the compensation due,” said the Minister of the Cabinet.
“The goal should be absolutely to pay [people] as soon as possible.”
A Final report on the scandalPublished last year, noted that the disaster could have largely avoided so different decisions had been made by the health authorities at the time.
The report indicates that too little was made to stop the importation of contaminated blood products from abroad in the 1970s and 80s, and there was evidence that elements of the scandal had been covered.
Last month, the president of the public inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, commanded two days of additional hearings after receiving “letter after letter, e-mail after email” expressing concerns concerning the management of the government's remuneration regime.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves reserved 11.8 billion pounds Sterling in the last budget to make final awards to victims and family members, But the latest figures show Less than 1% of this total, some 97 million pounds sterling, has been paid to date.
The scandal survivors and some bereaved parents have also received a series of smaller provisional payments in the past three years.
Eleven victims and their representatives testified during an emotional panel session in front of an audience of around 300 people in Westminster.
Andrew Evans, president of the Tained Blood campaign group, told the hearing that many victims and their families had been left “betrayed and disappointed”.
“People have abandoned any expectation of receiving anything,” he said.
“They have lost all hope of becoming justice and we cannot do it any longer.”
Other witnesses criticized the way in which individuals were contacted and “invited” to come forward to claim final compensation, describing it as “while waiting for your lottery ticket to stands”.
Gary Webster, a hemophile infected with HIV and hepatitis C when a pupil of the Treloar school in Hampshire in the 1970s and 80s, said that “[some] People will not get their compensation and many complaints will die with them. “”
“It's just too slow and people will not get the justice they deserve,” he added.
Under the current rules, if a person infected with HIV or hepatitis B or the C DIES before receiving complete compensation, any final allocation can be passed on to their loved ones through their succession.
But compensation can also be claimed by people affected by the scandal – a partner, a brother or a parent of a child, for example – for the separate impact on their lives.
And if they die before this compensation is agreed, their complaint will die with them and cannot be transmitted.
By questioning later in the day, Mr. Thomas-Symonds, who led the government's response, said that he was “agitated for new progress on payments”.
The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), an independent organization put in place to pay victims of the scandal, said that it expects the “bulk” to be rewards to be made to the survivors infected by the end of 2027, with most people affected, such as family members and caregivers, paid by the end of 2029.
Mr. Thomas-Symonds said he considered this chronology as a “safety net” rather than a target to work.
“Logic is that there may be other people who have not yet manifested themselves at this stage [to claim]”He said.
“I have never been only clear, these are absolute background nets and I expect these payments to accelerate [in the future]. “”
