Hepatitis C (Haemophiliacs)

Nick Harvey Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2013 Westminster Hall

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

It is good, Mr Dobbin, to have the opportunity to contribute to this debate, and I applaud the right hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Paul Goggins) for initiating it. It is also good to see the breadth of support from across the Chamber.

I represent my constituent, Sue Threakall, who has campaigned for many years with the Tainted Blood campaign and is currently the chair of that campaign. It has taken an awfully long time to get even as far as we have today. I very much support the comments that other Members have made about how unsatisfactory the situation is, even now.

I commend the right hon. Gentleman on a powerful but well measured and well judged speech. Health Ministers in Governments of each colour have, on many occasions, acknowledged that haemophiliacs are an exceptional and specific group of people affected by the contaminated blood scandal and that they merit special treatment in light of their tragic circumstances. As we know, with the passing of the years, those tragic circumstances mean that such sufferers are becoming fewer and fewer in number, and they deserve justice following a 30-year campaign, which has yet to achieve a full acknowledgement —let alone an apology—from the Government for what happened.

Today’s debate focuses on the haemophiliacs who were infected with hepatitis C—indeed, all but a tiny number of haemophiliacs receiving those blood products were infected with the virus. However, few, if any, haemophiliacs escaped with a single infection; most were exposed multiple times to multiple genotypes of hepatitis viruses, along with many other types of pathogens—hepatitis A, G, D and B for example. Many are super-infected.

It has been proved that infection with both HIV and hepatitis C exacerbates the progression of each virus. It is time now to look at the wider pictures. Haemophiliacs, many of whom have been infected by multiple viruses, desperately need additional support and proper needs assessments. As a community, they were, over time, knowingly exposed to such viruses, despite the growing warnings.

When we look back at what happened, it is worth remembering that the first warnings were given to the Department of Health in 1958 and yet, as late as 1984, we were still importing blood from America that we knew had been collected in American prisons. Even another five years after that, we were still importing blood supplies about which we knew very little. It is incredible that all these years later, in 2013, we are still having debates in Westminster Hall to try to bring about justice for this group of patients who were scandalously let down by our national health service.

The right hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East made a good point in saying that there has been clear resistance for a long time to having a full-blown public inquiry. He also made good points about the opportunity to go about having one in a slightly different way, with an inquiry of some sort being given full access to all the relevant facts. Such an inquiry would stand a very good chance of getting to the truth of why the warnings were ignored for all this time.

[Grahame M. Morris]

The hon. Gentleman is making some very important points, many of which I agree with. However, I seek his views on the privatisation of Plasma Resources UK, the UK’s plasma laboratory service. One of the reasons why that was acquired by the last Government was to ensure safe supplies of, among other things, factor 8. Does he think that there is a risk involved in that privatisation, particularly in light of the evidence of what has happened—tragically—to haemophiliacs?

[Sir Nick Harvey]

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point, and there will be anxiety on that front in many quarters. We have to hope desperately that what he is suggesting does not come to pass, because we are going to have to learn the lessons of the past. It is essential that we have proper controls over this sector for the future.

A number of hon. Members have referred to the means by which support is given to the sufferers and their families, and some good points have been made about the two-stage process effectively being a two-tier system. There were also some very sensible suggestions about Atos and the all-work test, because the fact of the matter is that the current system of financial support is patchy and insufficient. The Government need to revisit the issue urgently.

The challenge is partly for the new Health Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison), whom I welcome to her post, but it is also a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. It must recognise the unique circumstances of this community as a whole and come up with a comprehensive settlement once and for all, so that the victims, the widows and the families affected by the tragedy can get on with the rest of their lives.

I agree very much with those who have paid tribute to the current Prime Minister for having been willing to go into events of the past. He has not always been universally praised for doing so, but he has gone and tangled with some tricky issues from the past. This is another such case and he would be well advised to do the same with it. We have to learn lessons from these tragic events, put things right now and ensure that nothing similar can happen again.

[Jim Dobbin (in the Chair)]

We have two speakers left and approximately 15 minutes for them both.