1,000 signatures reached
To: The government and Boris Johnson
NHS contaminated blood scandal
The government must accept responsibility for the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS. The contaminated blood scandal has cost the lives of around three thousand people with bleeding disorders such as haemophilia. This was a totally avoidable tragedy and those who remain alive are seriously ill with Hepatitis C, HIV and exposure to CJD.
Why is this important?
We have never been compensated for the extreme harm to our health since it began in the 1970's and 1980's. Despite cross-party support calling for proper compensation there appears to be no political will from the Department of Health or the Prime Minister. Despite a long awaited apology which was finally delivered by David Cameron in 2015, there is still no meaningful compensation for victims, and justice is being denied. MPs were deliberately blocked a few years ago by party three-line whips from having the opportunity to debate Lord Alf Morris of Manchester's Contaminated Blood Bill in the house of Commons. If the Bill had been heard and passed, it would have given legal implementation of all the recommendations made by Lord Archer of Sandwell in his independent report in 2009, but once more the government denied the victims proper acknowledgement of their suffering. Teresa May eventually agreed to a public inquiry in 2017 but failed to carry out the commitments made by David Cameron in 2015, one of which was "compensation". An outgoing ex health minister Andy Burnham MP, was quoted in the Guardian in 2017 stating that there had been a“criminal cover-up on an industrial scale” in the NHS over the historic use of contaminated blood. The headline read "Andy Burnham demands NHS contaminated blood inquiry" "Outgoing Labour MP says there was an industrial-scale cover-up over infection of haemophiliacs with HIV and hepatitis"
It is now 2020 and the suffering and loss of life goes on. We are still waiting on compensation.
It is an absolute disgrace that no government will accept their moral responsibility to acknowledge the wrongdoing of past governments, but choose to sweep it under the carpet and hope the public won't find out about just how serious this blood scandal is, or the negligent policies which have cost the lives of approximately 3000 haemophiliacs. By comparison, and without admission of liability, the Irish government compensated their victims over 20 years ago on the grounds of "extreme harm and suffering". This was done prior to any public inquiries. Irish victims were infected in an identical set of circumstances to haemophiliacs in the UK .
The British public should be concerned as to why the government allowed the sale of 80% of Plasma Resource UK for 230 million pounds. The link to this article below will demonstrate that lessons are still not being learned. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/is-there-no-limit-to-what-this-government-will-privatise-uk-plasma-supplier-sold-to-us-private-8718029.html profit.
Haemophiliacs were not protected by the state, so how can we trust it to protect British Haemophiliacs and to ensure the supply of safe blood plasma products for the future? We the public must demand that this government acknowledges the alleged wrongdoing of the past and provide meaningful compensation for every victim and their families.
Please support the victims by following the current public inquiry and force the government to tell the truth. I am a victim of the contaminated blood scandal and I have been forced to live off scraps of money from an inadequate government trust fund, which is discriminatory and divisive in the way it has been set up. The final insult is that ATOS followed by Capita under the direction of the DWP are now trying to force the victims, many of whom are facing liver failure and cancer, back to work even when they have been deemed too ill and many already medically retired from employment on the grounds of chronic illness.
past failures of government policies has resulted in the a vulnerable patient group and community of people. They are struggling to survive, living with multiple viruses from state supplied contaminated blood products, many of them are wrongly assessed fit for work. Please sign the petition now and demand that the government accepts responsibility for what Lord Robert Winston ex vice president of the haemophilia Society called "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".
It is now 2020 and the suffering and loss of life goes on. We are still waiting on compensation.
It is an absolute disgrace that no government will accept their moral responsibility to acknowledge the wrongdoing of past governments, but choose to sweep it under the carpet and hope the public won't find out about just how serious this blood scandal is, or the negligent policies which have cost the lives of approximately 3000 haemophiliacs. By comparison, and without admission of liability, the Irish government compensated their victims over 20 years ago on the grounds of "extreme harm and suffering". This was done prior to any public inquiries. Irish victims were infected in an identical set of circumstances to haemophiliacs in the UK .
The British public should be concerned as to why the government allowed the sale of 80% of Plasma Resource UK for 230 million pounds. The link to this article below will demonstrate that lessons are still not being learned. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/is-there-no-limit-to-what-this-government-will-privatise-uk-plasma-supplier-sold-to-us-private-8718029.html profit.
Haemophiliacs were not protected by the state, so how can we trust it to protect British Haemophiliacs and to ensure the supply of safe blood plasma products for the future? We the public must demand that this government acknowledges the alleged wrongdoing of the past and provide meaningful compensation for every victim and their families.
Please support the victims by following the current public inquiry and force the government to tell the truth. I am a victim of the contaminated blood scandal and I have been forced to live off scraps of money from an inadequate government trust fund, which is discriminatory and divisive in the way it has been set up. The final insult is that ATOS followed by Capita under the direction of the DWP are now trying to force the victims, many of whom are facing liver failure and cancer, back to work even when they have been deemed too ill and many already medically retired from employment on the grounds of chronic illness.
past failures of government policies has resulted in the a vulnerable patient group and community of people. They are struggling to survive, living with multiple viruses from state supplied contaminated blood products, many of them are wrongly assessed fit for work. Please sign the petition now and demand that the government accepts responsibility for what Lord Robert Winston ex vice president of the haemophilia Society called "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".
How it will be delivered
I will deliver the signatures to Number 10 Downing Street and invite the media.
