Report to set out details on compensation for victims of infected blood scandal
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Details on compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal is expected to be set out in a report.
Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
An independent inquiry into the scandal will release a second interim report on Wednesday morning, setting out the framework for compensation to the victims.
It will refer back to recommendations in an independent report by Sir Robert Francis KC, who said to ministers in June 2022 that victims should receive interim payments of at least £100,000.
Our clients’ lives have been devastated and derailed by their and their loved ones’ exposure to infected blood products
However, the report is expected to go into further details beyond what was set out by Sir Robert, and will be wider than just a response to the recommendations.
In 2017, then-prime minister Theresa May ordered the public inquiry into what she called an “appalling tragedy which should simply never have happened”.
An estimated 2,400 patients died after being infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
Thousands of adults and approximately 380 children received infected blood products or transfusions during treatment by the NHS, the inquiry has heard.
Most of those involved had the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia and were given injections of the US product Factor VIII.
In October 2022, the Government said thousands of victims of the infected blood scandal would receive interim compensation payments of £100,000 by the end of the month.
The Government said in January 2023 interim compensation payments of about £400 million showed it accepts its “moral responsibility” to help victims.
Chaired by former High Court judge Sir Brian Langstaff, the inquiry examined the support provided to patients following infection, questions of consent, and whether there was a cover-up.
Sir Robert said in his report there would be a “strong moral case” for offering money to victims, independent of any issue of legal liability or culpability, if certain criteria were met.
He previously said: “There are those who fear they will not survive long enough to see, let alone enjoy, the fruits of an award of compensation.”
Sam Stein KC, representing 23 people affected by infected blood or blood products, including relatives who supported a partner through terminal illness, told the Infected Blood Inquiry in February they had “truly lived through the worst of times”.
In the final closing submissions to the inquiry, after almost four years of evidence heard around the UK, Mr Stein said of the victims he represents: “Our clients have been infected, affected and killed by this scandal.
“Our clients’ lives have been devastated and derailed by their and their loved ones’ exposure to infected blood products.”
The DHSC’s written closing submissions to the inquiry, dated December 16 last year, said the department accepted that “things happened that should not have happened” and that no statements made on its behalf should detract from its “unreserved” apology.
