Prime Minister: Stop Touring Around Us and Start Talking to Us

Prime Minister Andy Burnham: you are addressing rubbish, buses and rough sleeping. When will you address the infected blood scandal?

Homelessness, public transport and illegal waste are serious issues. They deserve action.

But while the Prime Minister tours the country announcing solutions, families harmed by the infected blood scandal are still waiting for him to acknowledge them.

Several groups and different parts of the infected blood community have asked you for a meeting. Those requests remain unanswered.

The people still waiting

Bereaved families are watching a compensation scheme penalise people because their loved one died before justice arrived.

Adult children and unpaid carers remain excluded or undervalued. People infected with Hepatitis B are still fighting to have the full consequences of their infections recognised. Elderly people and estates continue to wait for their claims to begin.

Every delay has a human cost. People are ageing. Some are seriously ill. Families who already buried loved ones without justice are being asked to remain patient yet again.

This cannot be passed somewhere else

The Cabinet Office sponsors the Infected Blood Compensation Authority. Government writes the regulations within which IBCA must operate.

When IBCA says it must follow the scheme, responsibility returns to Government. When Government points toward an operationally independent IBCA, families are sent back in the opposite direction.

This cannot continually be presented as somebody else’s responsibility.

Time for more than another photograph

Prime Minister, you have found time to stand beside buses, rough-sleeping services and illegal waste sites.

When will you stand beside the victims and families of the infected blood scandal?

Your Government has announced a £442 million national drive on rough sleeping and a summit bringing together leaders from across society. That demonstrates what happens when an issue is given visible political leadership, money and a timetable.

Infected blood families are asking when the same urgency will be shown toward the compensation scheme created in response to one of the gravest treatment scandals in British history.

Three straightforward commitments

- Meet representatives from across the infected blood community—not only a selected few.

- Publish a clear timetable for resolving the unfair treatment of deceased cases, carers, adult children and Hepatitis B victims.

- Explain what action your Government will take when IBCA’s rules produce outcomes that contradict the purpose of compensation.

Please do not tell the community that the Government is listening.

Tell them when you will meet them, who will take responsibility and what will change.

The community has been patient. That patience is running out.

Prime Minister, infected blood victims are part of the country you promised to serve. Stop touring around them and start talking to them.

Sources GOV.UK: Prime Minister’s national drive on rough sleeping The Guardian: Prime Minister’s illegal-waste announcement Cabinet Office and IBCA: Framework document