As we approach the launch of the final Inquiry report on 20 May 2024, we are continuing to work collaboratively with the affected communities, MPs, members of the House of Lords, other campaigning organisations, and the media to demand justice for everyone affected by the infected blood scandal.
We want to ensure that all the Inquiry’s recommendations – both those from the interim report published in April 2023, and those due in May 2024 – are fully engaged with and addressed by Government. This will mean that everyone who should receive compensation gets it, including people who were given hepatitis C through a transfusion after September 1991, bereaved parents and children, and people given hepatitis B. This must be provided under an accessible compensation system with a clear timeline, that treat people respectfully, and makes fair provision for people whose medical records have been destroyed by the NHS. The Government must operate transparently and meaningfully involve affected communities.
These key priorities are common across the campaigning and support organisations working with infected blood communities and we are working closely with everyone to maximise the strength and impact of our messages in these critical weeks.
We are also working closely with the media, including the BBC to support their growing coverage of the Infected Blood Scandal, The Guardian, Press Association and other national and local media outlets to raise awareness of the issue. We give our thanks to all of the people who have shared their story to support efforts to raise awareness of the terrible consequences of the infected blood scandal.
In April, a year on from the publication of the Inquiry report on compensation, we undertook a survey to understand more about how these delays are impacting the communities affected. We are hugely grateful to the 541 people who took part. We are using the information from this survey to highlight to MPs and the media how significant the impacts of the delays to the formation of the compensation system are for the people involved, and to encourage them to stand with us in pushing for a much faster and more transparent response to the interim Inquiry report.
On Wednesday 1 May we will meet with John Glen MP, the Minister responsible for the Inquiry and the Government’s response to it. He has invited us – as well as several other organisations that support the people affected and campaign for justice – to meet with him to discuss the progress that is being made by the Government in establishing the infected blood compensation system. We have spoken to many members of our community about the meeting and have received strong support for attending; we will use this time to set out the urgent need for of rapid, tangible progress on getting compensation paid, as well as in delivering the full range of Sir Brian’s recommendations within the April 2023 Interim Compensation Report.
We are also preparing for the launch of the final Inquiry report. On Sunday 19 May, the day before the report is launched, we will be part of an event in Parliament Square which will provide a final platform to call for justice ahead of the report’s publication, remember those who cannot be there with us for the report’s launch, and to provide a space for the people travelling to London to meet ahead of the Inquiry report launch on 20 May. We will update you with any plans for 20 May as soon as we have more information.