Moves to speed up blood scandal victims' payouts

CHANGES are to be made to the compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal, officials have announced following a heavily critical report on the way people were being compensated.

- ELLA PICKOVER

And the process has begun to create a “long overdue” memorial for thousands of victims of the scandal, dubbed the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

Earlier this month, the Infected Blood Inquiry made a series of recommendations to improve compensation for people who were both infected with contaminated blood and people affected as a result.

Responding to the report, the UK Government said that it was immediately accepting a number of the recommendations and will consult on others. It is not rejecting any of the recommendations.

And the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) announced it will accept all recommendations relating to the compensation authority.

Earlier this month, the probe into the scandal said victims had been “harmed further” by failures in the compensation scheme.

Sir Brian Langstaff, chairman of the inquiry, said the number of people who have been compensated to date is “profoundly unsatisfactory” as he called for “faster and fairer” compensation for victims.

He said all victims should be able to register for compensation and should not have to wait to be called forward to start their claim.