Relatives of NHS blood scandal victims urge Sunak for compensation

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
24 Jul 2023 16:05

The letter is due to be sent to Downing Street with relatives and survivors calling for action on interim payments in respect of “deaths not yet recognized”.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a joint press conference with France's President at the end of the French-British summit, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, on March 10, 2023. (AFP)

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to receive a letter from the relatives of the infected blood scandal of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) calling for immediate action to for full compensation payments.

The letter is due to be sent to Downing Street with relatives and survivors calling for action on interim payments in respect of “deaths not yet recognized”. Sunak is being reminded in the letter of his word to ensure the interim compensation is paid without delay during his time running to win and become the Conservative Party leader last year.

“Survivors and their families need to have certainty now…,” the letter states.

Among those who will submit the letter is Jason Evans whose father Jonathan died at the age of 31 after being infected with hepatitis C and HIV. Evans is now 33 and says that having to go through writing the letter “totally compounds the trauma and grief” of the survivors and grieving families.

“We need action to happen now because people are dying, not just people infected but the bereaved families as well,” he noted, adding that 380 children were infected with HIV, many of whom died in childhood, and their parents are now in their 80s.

“We know of people who have died only recently. People are dying without seeing any acknowledgment,” he stated, arguing that there was never transparency which makes it all the more scandalous.

Evans stressed that the relatives are just looking for clear answers rather than the government's claim that 'we are working at pace’.”

Postponing progress

Thousands of NHS patients with hemophilia and blood disorders alike were infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of contaminated blood products leaving almost 2,400 killed.

An inquiry was opened in 2017, which described the scandal as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history. Inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff at first recommended that victims themselves or their bereaved partners can receive an interim payment of around £100,000 ($128,418).

As for the letter, it emphasizes that the government’s delay is denying victims and families "any sense of tangible progress,” adding, “These payments are not just about compensation, they symbolize acknowledgement and they represent initial recognition of each life lost".

Sunak, alongside Chancellor and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, are expected to hand over proof to the Infected Blood Inquiry this month, as Commons Leader and former paymaster general Penny Mordaunt is also due to appear on July 24, and current Paymaster General Jeremy Quin is due the following day.

This is not the first NHS scandal. In March of last year, it was discovered that 300 babies were left dead or brain damaged as a result of inadequate care by the NHS. Mothers were denied cesarean sections and forced to have traumatic births because of an alleged obsession with meeting "normal" birth targets.