Coventry campaigner welcomes Chancellor's budget compensation announcement
Rachel Reeves announced in her first budget that victims of the infected blood scandal will receive £11.8bn compensation.
A Coventry campaigner who helped set up the Factor 8 group around the infected blood scandal, has welcomed the announcement by the Chancellor of compensation for victims.
In her first budget, Rachel Reeves announced that victims of infected blood will receive part of 11.8 billion pounds in compensation.
In May this year, a report into the inquiry of the infected blood scandal found that there had been a series of failures into regime, risks of infection, risks of treatment and telling people that they were infected.
Jason Evans from Coventry lost his dad in 1993 at the age of four years old, after he was infected with HIV and Hepatitis, and Jason now leads the Factor 8 campaign group.
Today, he's released a statement saying: "We welcome the chancellor's announcement and believe it provides an essential step in delivering compensation to all those who have long waited for recognition.
"It remains critical that those eligible for compensation have access to independent legal representation when making claims.
"The Infected Blood Inquiry's report, published in May this year, outlined a series of failures and wrong-doing which led to the scandal, including: Failures in the licensing regime, Adopting an attitude of denial, Failing to respond to serious risks of infection, Treating people as objects for research, Falsely reassuring the public and patients, Failing to tell people of the risks of treatment, Failing to tell people that they were infected.
"The compensation costs may seem high, but that is because the scale of suffering, loss and death due to the scandal is high.
"Many of those impacted believe that the government should seek to claw back some compensation costs from the companies identified in the Infected Blood Inquiry report.
"These are companies that knowingly manufactured and sold infected blood products to the NHS."
An estimated 3,000 people have died as a result of infected blood products or transfusions from the 1970s and 80s.