Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2015 to Question 7788, whom his Department has consulted on the matter of compensation packages for people affected by NHS contaminated blood.

Jane Ellison

The Department is considering wider reform of the ex-gratia financial assistance and other support for those affected with HIV and/or hepatitis C by infected NHS-supplied blood or blood products. We are doing this within the context of the spending review and in a way that is sustainable for the future.

In order to help develop the shape and structure of any new scheme, we plan to consult publicly on scheme reform soon. The Department has alrady engaged with representative groups of infected/affected individuals. These individuals were nominated from the Contaminated Blood Campaign, Tainted Blood and The Haemophilia Society. The event was held in a neutral venue and had an independent facilitator. A report from this one off event will be made public soon. Discussions are ongoing with other interested parties.

While we are working to establish a full and fair resolution, liability has not been established in the majority of cases, so it would not be appropriate to talk about payments in terms of compensation, particularly on the scale that some may envisage.