A mum from Chester has branded Government proposals to cap payments to victims of the NHS contaminated blood scandal ‘preposterous and inhumane’.

Debra Todd, 44, contracted HIV from a former partner, who was a haemophiliac and had been infected with the virus and hepatitis C as a child through contaminated blood products from the USA.

Too poorly to work, she depends on ex-gratia payments given through hardship funds set up to support people infected through blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.

Speaking out

Now Debra has decided to speak out against the Department of Health reforms – which she believes will see her more than £6,200 worse off each year, in addition to her annual payment being capped at £15,000.

She said: “I want to help spread the truth about the contaminated blood scandal; I want to fight for my family’s right to financial security and let the public know exactly what the Government are proposing to take away from innocent victims of this scandal; and I want to be a voice for those who can’t speak out, especially other HIV+ partners.

“I think the Government’s proposals are preposterous and inhumane.

“Just to be clear, they are not only planning to cap the ex-gratia annual payments. They are also planning to get rid of regular discretionary monthly payments, child payments and winter fuel payments.

“They are also proposing to stop discretionary grants, pre-paid annual prescription certificates and they will be getting rid of the benefits advisor who most victims need at some point for free financial and benefits advice and support.

“The ones who will be hardest hit by these losses are HIV and co-infected victims, who often have the most severe health problems.”

Life-changing diagnosis

Debra, who lives with her partner of seven years and their two little boys, said life as she knew it was over when she was diagnosed.

She now suffers from chronic fatigue, depression and anxiety, and although her anti-retroviral medication controls the virus, she experiences adverse daily side effects.

Compensation has never been paid to victims because the Government has not admitted liability, although David Cameron apologised last year on behalf of the Government for ‘something that should not have happened’.

The Scottish Government, meanwhile, confirmed in March that annual payments for those with HIV and advanced hepatitis C will be increased from £15,000 a year to £27,000 a year to reflect average earnings, and Debra thinks that parity with Scotland should be a starting point at the very least.

Chester MP backs campaign

City of Chester MP Chris Matheson – a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Haemophilia and Contaminated Blood – raised the issue in Parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions on April 27.

Referencing Debra’s story and that of another of his constituents who has hepatitis C, Mr Matheson asked Mr Cameron: “Why is the Government so willing to attack people whose only mistake is to be unlucky?”

Mr Cameron answered: “What we said before the election was that we had set aside £25million to help those who were infected with HIV because of contaminated blood.

“We have actually raised that since the election to over £100million and we are currently consulting all the groups about how best to use that money.

“So we will actually be doing more than we said at the time of the election, which is necessary because these people have suffered through no fault of their own.”

But Debra wants to know where that £25million is because she says she and other victims ‘have not seen a penny of it’.