Contaminated Blood

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

As co-sponsor of this important debate I thank the Backbench Business Committee for scheduling it. I also thank the Health Secretary and the shadow Health Secretary for their attendance in the Chamber, which shows the significance and importance of this issue.

One of my first speeches as MP for Colne Valley came on 14 October 2010 in a Backbench Business Committee debate on contaminated blood. Four years and a few months on, and we are still asking for a similar conclusion to this scandalous saga: for the Penrose inquiry to be published; for the trust offering financial assistance to operate in a fairer and more transparent way; and for a final settlement and an apology to the infected community from the Government of the day.

By 2010, 1,800 of the 4,800 people infected with hepatitis C had died, and of the 1,243 people who contracted HIV, only 345 remained. Today the number of survivors has fallen even further, and with each month of delay more of the infected community will not live to see any closure to this scandal. The date for the publication of the Penrose report will be announced shortly, and as it covers pre-devolution Scotland’s NHS treatment it will have implications across the United Kingdom. I implore the Government to respond positively to its findings.

My right hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) has been working tirelessly with No. 10 on behalf of the infected constituents to try to get a final settlement, and I praise him for that work. As the motion suggests, I praise and welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to look into this situation, which for too long has been ignored by Administrations.

As the Penrose inquiry is imminent and discussions on a final settlement are under way, the all-party group on haemophilia and contaminated blood, which I co-chair with the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson), set up a survey with the infected community to ask how it felt about current financial arrangements organised through the Skipton Fund, the MacFarlane and Eileen Trusts, and the Caxton Foundation. The survey received 961 responses, the majority of which were unhappy with current arrangements. I thank Tom Stephens, and my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) for his co-operation, and of course Liz Carroll and the Haemophilia Society for their help in compiling this important report.

The human stories from the infected community are the most poignant, and the replies to the survey contained hundreds of pages of heartfelt responses from those who have faced hardship and tragedy due to their illnesses. A woman from my local area asked me to relay her story to the Health Minister. Melanie was infected when she was a child undergoing surgery. Her parents received the terrible news that she was HIV-positive when she was just eight years old. Now 36, Melanie has been unable to fulfil her aspiration of becoming a paediatric nurse or a play specialist. Instead, she must rely on Government support and assistance from the Eileen Trust. She wants what many in the infected community desire: closure to the contaminated blood scandal, so they can live the rest of their lives in dignity and without having to beg for each bit of support. It is her and others I am thinking of today.

Another constituent, who wished to remain anonymous, described the 30 years of hopelessness, pain and medication that followed his infection with HIV, hepatitis B and C, and blood containing variant CJD, when he was just 12 years old. Not only has that severely limited what he could achieve in adulthood in terms of a career and a family, but he describes the stigma surrounding the diseases and the fear of discovery by those ignorant of the circumstances involved in the initial infection. The all-party group’s report on the survey makes a number of recommendations to improve conditions. I hope the Health Minister will respond positively to them, so that we can move forward. That is very important.

Finally, while this Administration have been open to improving the situation for those infected with contaminated blood, what those people really need is a final resolution. The Prime Minister has shown great courage and great strength in apologising to the victims of Hillsborough and Bloody Sunday. He can now take the lead on this issue and apologise on behalf of the nation to those infected with contaminated blood. With the work of other Back-Bench Members, the publication of the all-party group report and imminent publication of the Penrose report, there will be no better time for the Government to commit to improving the conditions of those infected. We have waited long enough.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—