Hertfordshire victim of Infected Blood Scandal losing hope for 'swift' payouts
The Government had announced compensation for victims in July
A Hertfordshire woman who's one of thousands infected by contaminated blood products is telling us there's no prospects of compensation before the end of the year.
The report from the official inquiry, published in May, came decades after tens of thousands of people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through infected blood and blood products in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, in what has been dubbed the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.
The previous Government announced financial payments would be made by the end of this year to victims themselves and the families of victims whose lives were taken to infections, with the Labour Government picking up and keeping the promise to victims.
However, months later, victims are still without firm answers.
Nicola Jones, from St Albans, was diagnosed as young child with mild haemophilia, a condition where the blood struggles to clot, leading to higher risk of blood loss and internal bleeding through minor injuries.
She was only nine years old when she was given medical treatment, which she later found out had contaminated her blood with Hepatitis C.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, she said: "There’s been nothing swift about any of it.
"Sadly, one person every four days is dying, many without seeing the compensation they were promised.
"A lot of people have lost faith. They’ve been so patient, but how long can you afford to wait? Some are terminally ill."
While thousands are said to have been contaminated, and many more living with the grief of a loved one lost to the scandal, only a small group appears to be part of an initial trial phase.
Ms Jones said: "We’ve been told 20 people are part of this trial, but no one knows who they are. It might be that they’re not allowed to discuss it, but there’s no reassurance or clarity.
"We get updates via email, but they’re often repetitive and offer no new information. It’s hard to have faith in anything the government says."
During a parliamentary debate this week, it was understood that payments could take years for some victims.
"If that’s the case, another 600 people could die in that time," Ms Jones said. "It’s heart-breaking that terminally ill people won’t have the chance to put things in place for their families."
While Ms Jones welcomed certain commitments made during the debate, such as improved NHS training to better support victims, she expressed doubts about implementation.
She said: "More understanding and follow-up care are critical.
"My GP has no empathy or understanding of what happened to me. Many of us are not receiving the appropriate care we deserve."
An IBCA spokesperson said:
“Since being set up in May to create a new system to pay compensation to victims of the infected blood scandal, we’ve been listening to members of the community to shape and design this service. It’s a complex process given the broad range of experiences, reinforcing the need to start small while developing as quickly as we can.
“We know those entitled to compensation have been waiting far too long for justice, and we want to make payments speedily and securely. We’re designing and building the claims service now, and testing this with around 20 people for the very first claims before we scale up to support many more claims over the coming months.
“By starting small and addressing any issues faced by the first people to apply, we can significantly scale up the number of claims during 2025.”
Further information provided by the IBCA:
• The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) is committed to putting the infected and affected blood community at the centre of every decision we make to build our organisation and deliver compensation.
• We will process the very first payments before the end of 2024 after opening our service up to a small number of people, around 20, in October.
• We intend to invite more people to claim before the end of this year, with further invites to follow in early 2025.
• It’s important this community helps to shape our decisions on how these invites are prioritised, so we will be engaging with members of the infected community who have offered to help us develop the claim service, and with groups that represent many in that community.
• We will open the full compensation service for those who are eligible as soon as we can, although claim and payment timings will depend on a number of things, including how the service performs at each stage, getting the right evidence and support in place and the full regulations being laid in Parliament.
• The first group invited to claim were selected so we can test the service using a range of different types of applicants and claims, and includes people:
o in a range of age groups
o registered with one of the four support schemes
o with different types and severity of infection
o and people who have more than one type of infection.