6 days Ago By [email protected] (Sam Volpe)
Ten of those infected or affected by the contaminated blood scandal have received their offers of compensation - but for many of those who have spent decades campaigning about this, this is not enough. Campaigners including those to have been infected or to have lost loved ones have highlighted what they see as continued delays and an opaque system. Just this week - in a move backed by many of those people - Sir Brian Langstaff, chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry , wrote a letter highlighting some of the issues.
The infected blood scandal has seen more than 3,000 people die and continue to do so at the rate of more than two a week. Ten people have been now been offered compensation totalling over £13 million through the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). The first few people have accepted their offers and are due to receive payment in the coming days.
25 more people have recently been invited to make their claim for compensation and once doing so, will also receive offers. This follows commitments to deliver compensation after allocating £11.8bn in the Budget.
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, said: "This government promised to deliver action on infected blood compensation, and today is a vital step towards delivering justice for people who have waited far too long for compensation. "No amount of compensation can fully address the suffering as a result of this scandal, but I hope this shows that we are doing everything possible to deliver significant compensation to people infected and affected. That is why this government set aside £11.
8 billion for this scheme in the Budget." However, earlier this week, Sir Brian warned of a "groundswell of discontent" over how compensation for the infected blood scandal is being handled - and warned campaigners feel "ignored". Some of those campaigners, like Carol Grayson and Sean Cavens in the North East and others further afield, have shared with ChronicleLive their mistrust of the way the new compensation scheme is being set up.
Northumberland's Sean, who is one of the youngest people to have been infected with hepatitis C through blood products, told of the toll continued delays were having on his mental health. Jesmond's Carol, whose husband Peter died due to AIDS after being infected with HIV, has consistently raised fears about the transparency of the system - and questioned how certain decisions had been made. This includes how this week in the letter Sir Robert Francis, chair of IBCA, wrote back to Sir Brian Langstaff explaining that organisation's effort's to engage members of the community.
This included the appointment of "three members of the community as User Consultants". Campaigners said they were unclear what this meant or who those people were. Earlier, Sean had told ChronicleLive how the actions of the Government and of civil servants had "helped inflame our frustration and distress".
He added: "My mental health is on a frayed bit of rope and it’s ready to snap." Others have criticised the thus-far offered £10,000 payment for the impact of being subject to unethical testing. Stuart Maclean - who was given Hepatitis through contaminated blood products as a child, was among those given just minutes to speak during a meeting this week.
He said the way compensation was being handled was "undermining the whole inquiry". Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community for all the latest news direct to your phone. To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device.
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