Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have been called to account for the Tory Government’s failure so far to make compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal a priority.
In an unprecedented move, both have been called by Sir Brian Langstaff to give evidence to the Infected Blood Inquiry he is chairing, as has Paymaster General Jeremy Quin and his predecessor Penny Mordaunt.
Sir Brian is working on his final report, due in the autumn, but has scheduled the additional hearings for the week from 24 July and will want to know why the Government is yet to act on an interim report he published in April.
He said at that time: “I recommend that a compensation scheme should be set up now and it should begin work this year.”
Survivors believed this would lead to prompt action, but they say Sir Brian has become increasingly frustrated at ministers dragging their heels.
Scottish survivors had predicted Sir Brian would take this decisive action as he was well aware of the rate at which survivors of the scandal were dying.
The inquiry, which has been running for six years, wanted the transitional payments he recommended to begin by September.
With no sign of that being in place, he has decided to schedule the additional hearings and call the Cabinet ministers to account in a move certain to embarrass them.
Bruce Norval, 58, from Inverness, a haemophiliac infected with Hepatitis C by the NHS 55 years ago, said: “Call me a cynic, but we were never supposed to live long enough to be paid out.
“Even now, with more than half of those infected already dead and those of us who survive dying at a rate of one every four or five days, there doesn’t seem to be any urgency.
“Those who are vulnerable are easiest to ignore, and we continue to see the erosion of our basic human rights.
“But we applaud Sir Brian for his efforts.
“The contaminated blood community don’t believe the Government has done any meaningful work on recommendations.
“Perhaps ministers will enjoy the opportunity to prove us wrong.”
Norval, a seasoned campaigner despite crippling health problems that go back to being infected with Hep C aged three, said: “This kind of intervention is unprecedented.
“No inquiry chair has ever had to force the hands of ministers in this way.”
Sir Brian’s recommendations in April were made in recognition that many had died before receiving awards and many more continued to die as a result of being treated decades ago with infected blood products by the NHS.
The need for urgency was underlined by the fact there had been more than 500 deaths since the start of the inquiry six years ago of people infected with HIV or Hepatitis C during hospital treatment.
When Theresa May was Prime Minister and ordered the inquiry, more than 3,000 of around 5,000 people infected had already died.
Sir Brian said in April: “It is an unusual step to publish recommendations about redress in advance of detailed findings, but I could not in conscience add to the decades-long delays many of you have already experienced due to failures to recognise the depth of your losses.
“Those delays have themselves been harmful.”
He has also broadened the scope of those eligible for compensation, urging the Government to recognise the long suffering of parents who lost children, noting that this aging group should not be kept waiting any longer.
Many of them had children who died before reaching school-age after becoming infected by the NHS, and one died of HIV at around 18 months.
The inquiry was set up to look into the circumstances in which men, women and children treated by the NHS were given infected blood, in particular since 1970.
Haemophiliacs were given clotting agents made from batches of donated blood, much of it imported, and it later emerged that some blood products were contaminated with HIV and/or Hepatitis C.
Infected blood was also given to many mothers who had just given birth and to accident victims who required blood transfusions.
The inquiry is also examining the support provided to patients following infection, questions of consent, and whether there was a cover-up.
Some survivors have received interim awards and all can expect payments to follow Sir Brian’s final report estimated at around £1.5m each.
In all, campaigners say that by extending the parameters of his inquiry to the parents and children of victims, the Government could eventually face claims from around 15,000 people and a final bill estimated at up to £20bn.
A notice on the Inquiry website says of the additional hearings: “The Inquiry will take evidence about the Government’s response to the use of infected blood and blood products and the question of compensation.”
A spokesperson for the UK Government said: “The Government accepts the moral case for compensation and work is ongoing across the UK Government and in consultation with the Devolved Administrations to consider as quickly as possible the recommendations put forward in the Inquiry’s second interim report.” Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
