Infected blood victims want Post Office scandal style TV drama in bid for justice

Infected blood victims have welcomed the idea of a Post Office scandal-style drama about their own experience of injustice, a lawyer said.

Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors, which represents 1,500 victims and their families, said most of his clients would welcome a TV drama as it would attract more attention than news coverage.

He said since ITV programme Mr Bates Vs The Post Office began, families had come forward asking why they had not had the same coverage.

“They phone up and say ‘have you seen it, why aren’t we getting this coverage’ and they do feel marginalised,” Mr Collins said.

“But it is not a question of – we’re entitled to it, they’re not – it’s the question of everyone who is wronged in these circumstances as a result of whatever went wrong.

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“Whether it’s the Post Office scandal or the contaminated blood crisis, it requires the Government to react properly, objectively and fully,” he added.

In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands died in what is widely recognised as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS after being given blood products contaminated with HIV and Hepatitis C.

It comes as Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said it would not take an ITV drama for compensation to victims of the scandal to be resolved.

Ms Mordaunt was speaking in the Commons as she faced calls to speed up justice for the victims of other scandals after recent Government announcements on compensating wrongly convicted subpostmasters following the airing of the ITV drama on the issue.

While the Commons Leader defended the Government’s actions in trying to resolve “some very difficult and long-running issues”, she said she would speak to the Cabinet Office to ensure lessons are learned “particularly” from the last few weeks.

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But Mr Collins said his clients would like to see “less words and more action”. He said: “Penny Mordaunt says, well this is very serious, and it is, and that we can rely on the Government to do the right thing, they regard it as important but so far that has not been the evidence which has presented itself to the victims.

“Similarly, with the Post Office victims, there was a lot of talk over the last two or three years insofar as the postmasters were concerned that it was being looked at very seriously and they were going to do the right thing, but they didn’t until someone basically, took a stick to them, the world’s press took a stick to them.

“It’s good that that happened, and it wasn’t before time, but clearly my clients are concerned that that will never happen to them and they are concerned that the response of the Government to the compensation framework, which should have been set up six months ago, at least six months ago, is now pushed forward at the earliest opportunity.

“All very well for Penny to say something in the House this afternoon but I think my clients would like to see less words and more action.”

Mr Collins added that the Infected Blood Inquiry does not seem to have “cut through the impasse” but his clients feel that the ITV drama has.

He said: “They think that would be something which would assist them or their cause and I can’t disagree with them.”

Mr Collins said he believes if the Infected Blood Inquiry and the interim report had been given the same coverage as the Post Office scandal, then the Government “would have reacted”.

He said the families have the “utmost sympathy” for the victims of the Post Office scandal but that the Government will “only react in a certain way at a certain time” and the reaction to the Infected Blood Inquiry has been “woefully inadequate”.

A Government spokesperson said: “This was an appalling tragedy, and our thoughts remain with all those affected.

“We are clear that justice needs to be delivered for the victims and have already accepted the moral case for compensation.

“The report covers a set of extremely complex issues – and the Government intends to respond in full to Sir Brian’s (Langstaff) recommendations for wider compensation following the publication of the Inquiry’s final report in March 2024.”