Contaminated blood inquiry: Dad wants family's pain recognised

The begetter of a antheral who died astatine the property of 44 aft being fixed contaminated humor successful his teens wants the authorities to recognise affected families' pain.

Tony Summers' lad Paul died successful 2008 having contracted HIV and hepatitis C.

Mr Summers said compensation was not arsenic important arsenic designation aft a justice said parents and children of victims of the contaminated humor ungraded should person authorities compensation.

The authorities indispensable present respond to the recommendations.

Mr Summers said thing could instrumentality distant the suffering they had endured.

"When you've sat alongside your son's furniture and watched him die, determination is nary compensation that tin alteration anything," helium said.

"My interest implicit the past 30-odd years has been what we tin bash to marque definite that the bereaved, the infected and the affected, get bully compensation and enactment for the future".

More than 3,000 radical died aft contracting HIV oregon hepatitis C via NHS treatments successful the 1970s and 80s.

Now the president of the infected humor nationalist inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said it was clip to "recognise deaths which person truthful acold gone unrecognised".

Mr Summers and his woman Pat, from Llantwit Major, successful the Vale of Glamorgan, some gave grounds to the enquiry successful Cardiff successful 2019.

They said their son's HIV diagnosis was kept from him erstwhile archetypal detected. He lone recovered retired erstwhile helium went to assemblage successful Plymouth and got a caller GP.

"It would beryllium bully of the authorities to admit what we and each different household person been enactment done each these years," Mr Summers said.

"It was denied initially by his infirmary that it could perchance happen.

"Initially we were told determination wasn't a problem. HIV was not a problem. Only to observe that it was a large problem".

Mr Summers said helium was hopeful the enquiry would present the closure galore victims and their families inactive want, arsenic good arsenic a committedness to larn lessons.

"The purpose is to marque definite that this can't perchance hap again," helium said.

"Yes, wealth is important. But it's not important successful each situation.

"We tin ne'er get full closure, but astatine slightest erstwhile this finishes, I anticipation that I tin locomotion distant and think, 'the past 30 years were not wasted'."

Rachel McGuinness, from Bangor, successful Gwynedd, mislaid her father, Christopher Thomas, aft helium was fixed infected blood.

The proposal that parents and children get compensation is an important measurement successful achieving justness for families, she said.

"It's bully to beryllium recognised arsenic a kid who mislaid a father, adjacent though it was a precise agelong clip ago," Ms McGuinness said.

She said she would beryllium waiting anxiously to spot however the UK authorities responds.

"The process arsenic a full has been adjuvant for my family," she said.

"It's fixed america a accidental to sermon things and inquire questions that we didn't person answers to.

"It helps recognise the information that my begetter had said, from the beginning, that determination were issues and that mistakes had been made. I'm precise pleased astir that."