Never Again: Justice for Contaminated Blood Victims

The contaminated blood scandal remains one of the gravest injustices in NHS history. 

More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through NHS blood products during the 1970s and 1980s, leading to the deaths of over 3,000 people so far. For decades, victims and their families have been let down by governments that delayed, denied or deflected responsibility. 

The Infected Blood Inquiry, published in May 2024, made it clear: This disaster could largely have been avoided had health authorities made different decisions.

Yet despite repeated promises, the Government continues to drag its feet. 

Just 460 people have so far received compensation under the scheme, while campaigners estimate that more than 100 victims have died in the last year alone while waiting. This is not justice – it is another betrayal.

The Liberal Democrats believe victims deserve recognition, dignity, and timely compensation. Justice delayed is justice denied. 

That’s why today, our members have passed new policy which would turn promises into action and make sure no scandal on this scale ever happens again:

• Deliver justice for victims by fully implementing the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendations and ensuring all claims under the compensation scheme are processed quickly and fairly.
   
• Provide ongoing support for all victims of medical scandals, including access to healthcare, psychological services, and social support.
   
• Prevent future scandals by introducing a statutory duty of candour on all public officials, and embedding patient voices at board level across the NHS so that patients’ experiences shape decision-making.

Reinvest in the NHS by committing any savings from reducing compensation payouts – which currently cost the NHS nearly £3 billion a year – into frontline care.

Victims have already waited decades for answers and many are still waiting for compensation they were promised. Families have been left without loved ones and without support. Every delay deepens the injustice of this scandal.

We must ensure that the NHS is safer, fairer and more transparent in the future. A statutory duty of candour for public officials, promised under the ‘Hillsborough Law’, remains undelivered despite Government commitments to introduce it by April 2025.

Without such safeguards, the risk of future cover-ups and scandals remains.

By delivering justice and putting in place lasting safeguards, Liberal Democrats would honour the victims of the contaminated blood scandal and protect future patients from enduring such injustice ever again.