Infected blood victims 'still waiting for closure'

Victims of the contaminated blood scandal said they still feel like they are waiting for closure.

Martin Beard, 55, from Uttoxeter, was diagnosed with severe haemophilia at six months old, and underwent treatment at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Health officials kept his HIV diagnosis secret from him until he was 17.

More than 30,000 people were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV after receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

Last week, the government announced the first compensation payments would start being made by the end of the year.

A public inquiry described the scale of the scandal as "horrifying" and accused doctors, the government and NHS of repeatedly failing patients.

Nearly 3,000 of those infected have since died.

Mr Beard learned of his HIV diagnosis aged 17, when he was transferred to North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary.

Mr Beard said he was given just two years to live when he was first diagnosed.

He said he later wrote to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, who confirmed he had been tested and found to be HIV positive in 1985 and that they had also discovered an old blood sample from 1983 which was also HIV positive.

This meant he had been HIV positive since the age of 14, but he believed he could have been infected even before that.

He said he did not become ill or need medication until 1997.

“This has been going on for 50 years and it’s ridiculous how long it’s been taking and how many people have died,” he said.

He was hopeful the time was getting nearer to when he and others were able to achieve a sense of closure over the issue.

“You can’t compensate for all those years gone, but we are getting close. We are getting somewhere.”

He added that it had been refreshing to see how much more open and transparent healthcare was now, compared to how it was in decades past.

Despite this, there are still wrongs which many feel have not yet been atoned for.

“There’s people still dying, that’s the frustrating part,” Mr Beard said.

In its recent announcement, the government said alI those registered with an infected blood support scheme before 1st April 2025 - both living infected persons and bereaved partners - will receive regular support scheme payments for life.

There will be additional compensation for those subjected to "unethical research" identified by the Infected Blood Inquiry, a spokeswoman added.

There would also be more ways people can apply for compensation and an increased "social impact award" for people who are likely to have lived in the same household as an infected person for more than two years.

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