Torbay MP demands action on infected blood

Torbay’s MP spoke out on delays in getting compensation agreed and demanded immediate action in a Commons debate on the Infected Blood Scandal.

Kevin Foster joined other MPs in pushing the Government to immediately accept the recommendations of the Infected Blood Inquiry on compensation and redress which were published in April.

In the 1970s and 1980s, around 5,000 people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were infected with HIV and hepatitis viruses through the use of contaminated clotting factors, some unwittingly then passing it on to their partners.

Since those times, more than 3,000 people have died and of the 1,250 people infected with HIV less than 250 are still alive, these only being alive due to advances in the treatment of their condition which were not available at the time of their original infection.

Many people who did not have a bleeding disorder were infected with hepatitis C because of blood transfusions during that period. The best estimates suggest around 27,000 were infected with hepatitis C, of whom around 10 per cent were still alive and seeking justice as of 2019.

Speaking in the debate, Mr Foster highlighted how he had inherited constituency cases from his predecessor in 2015 which he was still pursuing.

He told MPs: “The (infected blood) scandal affected not just them but their whole family, many of whom are now on to the second generation fighting for justice. The final report of the inquiry will be a landmark moment, one that has been awaited for decades. Yet what I say to the Minister is: please do not wait to act where you can and do so by quickly accepting the April recommendations and coming back to the House with a clear plan as to how you are going to deliver them.”