Overview

This bill aims to provide support for individuals infected with diseases through contaminated NHS blood and blood products, as well as their families and carers. It establishes a committee to advise on haemophilia treatment, introduces a compensation scheme, and mandates improvements to blood safety procedures.

Description

The bill covers several key areas:

• Haemophilia Treatment Advisory Committee: Establishes a committee to advise on haemophilia treatment, including therapy selection, accessibility, financial needs, and international comparisons.
• Blood Donation Safety: Requires testing of all people with haemophilia who received NHS blood products and their partners for various infections (hepatitis B and C, HIV, HTLV, syphilis, and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). It mandates safer blood supply practices via prion filtration and routine donor testing for the same infections.
• NHS Compensation Cards: Creates a scheme providing free NHS access to prescription drugs, counselling, physiotherapy, occupational therapies, and home nursing for those infected by contaminated blood products.
• Financial Compensation: Provides financial compensation (lump sum and periodical payments) to infected individuals, their carers, widows, and dependants. This compensation is not means-tested and is not dependent on the initial reason for treatment, age at treatment, or the timing of treatment or death.
• Review of Support: Mandates a review of support for infected individuals, including eligibility for benefits for dependants, medical insurance, identification of potentially infected individuals, and funding for support charities.

Government Spending

The bill will likely lead to significant increases in government spending due to the financial compensation scheme and the provision of free healthcare services through NHS Compensation Cards. Exact figures are not specified in the bill.

Groups Affected

• People infected with diseases via contaminated NHS blood or blood products: Will receive financial compensation and access to free healthcare services.
• Carers of infected individuals: Eligible for financial compensation.
• Widows and dependants of infected individuals: Eligible for financial compensation.
• People with haemophilia: Will benefit from improved treatment advice and blood safety measures.
• NHS: Will incur increased costs for providing free healthcare services and compensation payments.
• Blood donation services: Will be required to implement stricter safety protocols.

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