Somerset infected blood victim critical of compensation delay
A woman who contracted hepatitis C after being given an infected blood transfusion has said it is "hard to keep going" while she waits for government compensation.Hazel Busby, 74, who lives in Street, Somerset, has accused the government of "apathy" over its treatment of infected blood victims.She is still waiting for details of the compensation she will receive more than a year after the end of a public inquiry and the government's announcement of a compensation scheme.The government has offered its sympathies to Ms Busby and said it would work "at pace" to ensure compensation was paid.
It is thought 30,000 patients in the UK were infected with HIV or hepatitis B and C after being treated with a contaminated blood clotting product or given a blood transfusion in the 1970s and 80s.It is thought around 2,900 people have died as a result of the scandal.Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said earlier this month it was "profoundly unsatisfactory" that just 106 final compensation awards have been paid, a year after the damning report into the scandal was published.Ms Busby contracted hepatitis C after a blood transfusion in 1971, following complications from childbirth.She previously said she felt like her life "had been stolen" by her illness and ongoing battle for justice.Within weeks of the May 2024 announcement, Ms Busby received an interim payment but has not heard anything more or received any further compensation.
'Tiny burning hot pins'
Ms Busby said: "I think it's awful, cold-hearted, shocking and a Labour government was really saying it wanted to help. And then they got into power and it's hardly spoken of."I can't plan anything. I've got things that I'm doing that I'm paying for that and I'm relying on that money to come in. So it's quite scary for me. And it's difficult, very difficult."I've got all these things that have happened to me, the worst one is peripheral neuropathy and it's like thousands of tiny burning hot pins being rammed into your feet and your legs 24/7."I take drugs like fentanyl. I don't want to. I want to be alive and alert - and you're not really, you're not your full self at all."
Last month Ms Busby's MP, Sarah Dyke raised her case in the House of Commons."Her case is truly heart-breaking, so what assurance can the minister provide to people like Hazel that they will soon be supported?" she asked.Responding, Mr Thomas-Symonds said: "I express my sympathy and, I am sure, that of the whole house to Hazel in respect of what she has been through. "The assurance I give is that this government will act at pace. That is what we did in putting the first set of regulations in place by 24 August last year and by putting the second set of regulations in place by 31 March this year. "I continue to stand ready to help and support IBCA (Infected Blood Compensation Authority), which is operationally independent, in any way that I can to speed up the payments.'
In a further statement to the House of Commons on 14 May, Mr Thomas-Symonds said payments totalling more than £96 million had so far been made by the IBCA.He said the IBCA plans to contact an average of 100 people every week to begin their claims."I recognise that for many in the community, the government's actions come after decades have passed,' he said."There is nothing that can put right the damage done by inaction on the part of multiple previous governments, and it is not my intention for this statement to diminish that. "My priority now is focusing on delivering meaningful change to ensure that the scandal of infected blood, among many other scandals, is never allowed to happen again.'
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