Blood victims dying 'two a week' as thousands await compensation

Victims of infected blood are dying "two a week" while awaiting compensation for the biggest scandal in the history of the NHS, campaigners say.

More than 30,000 people in the UK were given treatments infected with HIV and Hepatitis C between the late 1970s and early 1990s, resulting in more than 3,000 deaths.

Tony Summers, 89, whose son died after being given infected blood products, said he was told he may not receive compensation until 2029 and fears he might be dead before then.

A Labour MP described the delay as "embarrassing", while the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) said its priority was to pay compensation to "as many people as soon as possible".

In May 2024, a public inquiry found the authorities had covered up the scale of what is now known as the infected blood scandal.

In response, the UK government set aside £11.8bn to compensate the victims - including parents, children and siblings - of which there could be as many as 140,000.

But many victims, charities and the inquiry's chair, Sir Brian Langstaff, have expressed concern about the way compensation is being implemented and the time it is taking.

Forty people have accepted offers of compensation, and 18 people - less than 1% of those eligible - have received compensation so far, according to the IBCA.

Mr Summers' son Paul was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis C after being given a blood clotting product used to treat haemophilia.

He died in 2008 at the age of 44.

"I just feel so proud of what [Paul] achieved, because he had so much to offer," said Mr Summers, from Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan.

"I would like to feel that everything we started in 1984, which has been a long journey, we won't have lost it.

"We will have achieved and that will give me more satisfaction than anything. Just to feel that we did the right thing.

"It's probably the most important thing in my life to get to the end of this, to get closure. I just want this to be over."

Mr Summers claims to have been told he may not receive compensation until 2029 – five years after the inquiry's final report was published.

"By then I'll be 93, you begin to have doubts," he said.

"People are still dying from any affected illnesses. Parents are dying. So it feels as though there's a policy [of] 'if we hang on long enough we won't have to pay that money'."

Lynne Kelly, chair of Haemophilia Wales, said people wanted closure after campaigning for more than four decades.

"People are dying two a week at the moment, so we're in a really difficult position," she said.

"They're delaying and delaying because more and more people are dying.

"The infected are dying, and when the affected die their claim dies with them so there's no claim to be made and bit by bit, less and less people will be eligible for compensation and less money will be paid.

"They've been ignored for 40 years, they've campaigned for 40 years. We feel history is repeating itself. It's heart-breaking."

The IBCA is administering payments, which are exempt from tax and will not affect benefits.

A person infected with HIV could expect to get compensation of between £2.2m and £2.6m.

Those with a chronic hepatitis C infection, defined as lasting more than six months, could expect to receive between £665,000 and £810,000.

The partner of someone infected with HIV who is still alive today could expect to receive about £110,000.

Around 4,000 survivors or their bereaved families have also received interim payments worth up to £310,000 since 2022.

Labour MP Clive Efford, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood, said the situation had become "an embarrassing issue for the government".

"We owe it to these people to get this compensation out the door as quickly as possible because they've been suffering as a consequence of this for many, many years, they've been forced to take on the state."

David Foley, Interim Chief Executive of the IBCA, said its priority was to pay "as many people as soon as possible as we design and build a compensation claim service".

Mr Foley said the IBCA had now contacted more than 250 people but he said they were "acutely aware there are many more awaiting compensation".

"We will continue to increase the number of compensation payments made as we build the claims service further," he added.

"We are committed to making payments to the majority of infected people by 2027 and the majority of affected people by 2029 - making these payments faster than this wherever possible."