Major blocked payouts for blood victims
VICTIMS of the NHS blood scandal were refused compensation after John major lobbied then prime minister margaret Thatcher, official documents reveal.
in a 1987 letter mr major, who was then chief secretary to the Treasury, said payouts to the victims would set a costly precedent.
more than 7,500 patients contracted HIV and hepatitis c after being given infected blood products in the 1970s and 1980s in what is described as the ‘worst treatment disaster in NHS history’. more than 3,000 have since died.
The Department of Health imported clotting products used to treat haemophiliacs from the US – where blood was collected from prisoners and the homeless in exchange for cash – to save money.
Victims have never been given formal compensation because the Government has not admitted liability.
in his letter to mrs Thatcher, mr major wrote: ‘While all of us must have every sympathy for haemophiliacs who have been infected with the HIV virus, i do not feel it would be wise to set a general precedent by accepting that the Government should provide a special compensation scheme.’
He said judges were unlikely to force the Government to pay and added that a scheme would cost at least £3million, and ‘could only be funded at the expense of other priorities’. The letter also warned: ‘There is no doubt that compensating haemophiliacs would lead to pressure from many others groups for similar treatment.’
The document was unearthed in the National Archives by Jason Evans, the founder of campaign group Factor 8, ahead of the long- awaited public inquiry into the scandal, which resumes in London tomorrow.
Sir John, who was knighted in 2005, is among the former ministers who will be called to give evidence at the inquiry later this year and may face questions over the letter.
mr Evans said 600 victims of the scandal – including his father Jonathan who contracted Aids from contaminated products – died within a decade of it being written.
The 29-year-old told the mail on Sunday: ‘John major looked at the whole situation in a very cold mechanical way with little or no consideration to the fact that people were dying.’
As the death toll rose the Government came under pressure to reverse its decision, and when mr major succeeded mrs Thatcher in 1990 he approved a support scheme, which has since been widely criticised.
The infected Blood inquiry has heard testimony from victims who were forced to jump through hoops to access discretionary support payments and meagre living allowances.
Theresa may recently increased the size of the support scheme in England from £46million to £75million, but campaigners say this is still insufficient and does not apply to the rest of the UK.
A spokesman for the former prime minister said: ‘Sir John will be giving written evidence to the infected Blood inquiry. it would therefore be inappropriate for him to comment until it has completed its work.’