Executive to extend hepatitis C compensation

The report was last night welcomed by sufferers’ support groups, who believe the health minister will now have "little choice" but to extend payments to around 300 haemophiliacs and 200 non-haemophiliacs, after it is received by the Scottish executive next week. Although the report rejects demands by haemophiliacs for a public inquiry into contaminated blood, it is strongly in favour of a deal along the lines of a payment scheme set up in the 1980s through the McFarlane Trust to haemophiliacs who contracted HIV.

The move follows a ruling made last month by Susan Deacon that around 20 victims who contracted hepatitis C after the Consumer Protection Act came into force were entitled to share around 1 million compensation in line with a High Court ruling south of the Border.

The report, by the health committee, which draws on evidence gathered over the past year by MSPs and hepatitis C sufferers, states that compensation should be available to "all hepatitis C sufferers, who contracted the virus through contaminated blood or blood products regardless of whether negligence can be proved," which would extend payments to those who were not protected by the 1988 act.

It adds that the principle of no-fault compensation should be extended to haemophiliacs and non-haemophiliacs who caught hepatitis C through blood products or surgery.

The McFarlane Trust, set up in 1987 to help haemophiliacs infected with HIV and their families, is described in the report as a model which could be adapted for Scottish hepatitis C victims. The trust was awarded 10 million of government money and received a further 5 million in 1993.

The convener of the cross-party health committee, Lib Dem MSP Margaret Smith, said: "The draft will be discussed tomorrow and I am quite hopeful that a decision will be taken then and it will be published early next week. The executive then has six weeks to respond.

"The report has input from all the health committee and has taken evidence from all the committee as well as other interested parties.

"We always try to bring forward unanimous cross-party support."

Although the executive is not obliged to accept the recommendations, Ms Deacon has already put into practice its recommendations on issues such as MMR vaccinations and free personal care for the elderly.

A Scottish executive spokesman said the possibility of extending no-fault compensation would remain "hypothetical" until the committee publishes its report next week.

But Ms Deacon has already made a significant U-turn in policy for compensation payments for patients who contracted the virus through the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service, by instructing NHS lawyers to begin settlements with victims who had lodged claims under the Consumer Protection Act.

However, when the question of compensation was first raised Ms Deacon rejected it on the grounds that the NHS did not pay compensation for non-negligent harm.

When she made her announcement last month, she refused to rule out extending the ruling to all patients and said the executive was seeking ways of reaching a faster and fairer resolution of disputes between patients and the NHS, which would aim for more disputes being resolved without going to court.

Jeff Frew, secretary of Capital C, an Edinburgh-based support group for hepatitis C sufferers, said the report now puts her under further pressure to compensate hundreds more victims, a move which could cost the NHS in Scotland tens of millions of pounds.

He said: "This report is great news for people with hepatitis C. The health minister now has little choice but to award compensation to victims, which is vital to enable them to have a better quality of life."

Philip Dolan, a member of the Haemophiliac Society in Scotland, who gave evidence to the committee, last night welcomed the proposals for payments. However, he warned that the minister would back compensation settlements to avoid a public inquiry in which past inadequacies in the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service could be brought to light.

He said: "In an ideal world we would be looking for a public inquiry which would have brought out into the open all the problems and injustices of the issue .

"But we have also been asking for compensation and we are delighted to know that the health committee recommends it."