Infected blood victim says that 'issue is not resolved' despite 'being a long way down the road'

Infected blood victim says that 'issue is not resolved' despite 'being a long way down the road'

Infected blood victim says that 'issue is not resolved' despite 'being a long way down the road'

GB News
Gabrielle Wilde

By Gabrielle Wilde


Published: 16/08/2024

- 18:54

Victims of the infected blood scandal are to receive a lifetime of financial support

Infected blood victim Sue Wathen has claimed that the issue "is not yet resolved" despite victims being told they are to receive a lifetime of financial support.

More than 30,000 people have developed silent killer infections Hepatitis C and HIV after being affected by contaminated blood products and transfusions between 1970 and 1991.


Around 3,000 of these individuals passed away during what is now dubbed the biggest scandal in the history of the NHS.

Speaking to GB News Wathen, who was one of those infected with the blood, said: "I don't know that resolution is the word. I think we're a long way along the road because so many people have been affected.

\u200bSue Wathen

Sue Wathen has claimed that the issue "is not yet resolved"

GB News

"Not just the infected, but those affected by this, people who've lost children, people who've lost partners.

"So many people have been affected as well. I think we're a long way along the road, and I think today's news is very welcome.

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"All of us have said all along, this has been about finding out the truth not just about money."

Wathen told Martin Daubney that she had several transfusions in the 70s and 80s and she has no way of knowing when she was infected as her medical notes mysteriously disappeared.

She later discovered that she had been infected by Hepatitis C.

She explained: "I found out in 2014 and it was as a result of a meeting with a doctor I hadn't seen before at a clinic I'd never been to.

Infected blood campaigners

Infected blood scandal victims will be supported for life

PA

"They just happened to ask me, had I had any blood transfusions? In 1991, we now know that that was a little bit of a spurious date for cutoff purposes.

"I said yes, he asked if he could test me for hepatitis A, B, C, and HIV and I said yes.

"I was not thinking for one moment that any of that would come back as positive, but it did."

Sue Wathen

Sue Wathen said she had "so many years of terrible illness"

GB News

She added: "I just had so many years of terrible illness."

A long-awaited report from the Infected Blood Inquiry, published earlier this year, found the scandal, which has so far claimed the lives of around 3,000 people, "could largely have been avoided" and there was a "pervasive" cover-up to hide the truth.

The Government has now confirmed regular support scheme payments, including for bereaved partners, will continue for life.

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