Hepatitis C (Hansard, 18 December 2000)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)
My Lords, on 31st October the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommended that patients suffering from moderate or severe hepatitis C should be given the combination therapy, Alpha Interferon 568 with Ribavarin. My department will also make funding available to the Haemophilia Society over three years to help improve counselling for people with haemophilia infected with hepatitis C.

§ Lord Morris of Manchester
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for his reply. Is he aware that contaminated NHS blood products have now taken the lives of 1,000 people with haemophilia in what my noble friend Lord Winston has called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS? Should there not be a public inquiry into the disaster, as the Haemophilia Society requests? Again, why cannot safer recombinant treatment be available to all adults and children in England as it is already in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? And why cannot people infected with hepatitis C be given the same "no fault" financial help as people with HIV?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend as president of the Haemophilia Society for bringing this serious concern of what has happened to many people to your Lordships' attention. The Government reviewed the decision taken by the previous government not to offer financial assistance to haemophiliacs infected with hepatitis C through blood products. Our decision was that an exception could not be made to the general rule that compensation or financial help is only given when the NHS or individuals working in it have been at fault.
There is no evidence that recombinant synthetic factor 8 and factor 9 are more effective or safe than plasma-based products. However, I understand the anxieties expressed by the haemophilia community. That is why we instructed health authorities to provide recombinant products to new patients and children under 16 with haemophilia. I understand the point made by my noble friend. I shall be meeting with the Manor House Group later today and with the Haemophilia Society in the new year. I am sure that this will be one of the issues we discuss.

§ Lord Clement-Jones
My Lords, in a debate in March the Minister claimed that the department had no legal liability towards haemophiliac sufferers because blood testing was introduced as soon as technology was available. Recently, there have been reports in the Scotsman that regional directors of blood transfusion centres met in 1986 and decided not to go ahead with hepatitis C screening because of lack of time and resources. Does not that alter the complexion on the matter? Is it not high time the department altered its view and gave financial compensation to those sufferers?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I have not seen the report in the Scotsman. I shall be prepared to look at it if the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, will pass it to me. But it is not my understanding that there is any move from the position that the English NHS was not shown to be at fault. As the noble Lord will understand, an inquiry by the Scottish Administration 569 took place recently. However, that was not a general inquiry into hepatitis C and blood products. It looked specifically into whether or not Scottish haemophilia patients were exposed to the risks of hepatitis C for longer than they should have been, given the fact that Scotland developed successful heat treatment later than England. Scottish Ministers considered a report in that regard and concluded that there was no evidence that the relevant authorities did other than their best for patients.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, I ask the Minister to think again about his answer when he said that there was no evidence that recombinant was safer than normal blood products. I thought it had been clearly established that all hepatitis C infections came about because of the product being derived from normal blood. Is it not a fact that one of the big stumbling blocks has been VAT on the chemical product? As we have been told repeatedly that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would investigate that matter, can the Minister say whether he has done so because such a move could save many people from contracting hepatitis C?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, VAT issues are always under discussion, but I have seen no evidence that recombinant factors are more effective or safer than plasma-based products. That is the advice I have received. However, as I have said, I understand the concerns expressed by the haemophilia community and will be discussing them with the Manor House Group and the Haemophilia Society.

§ Earl Russell
My Lords, may I thank the Minister for small mercies? However, is he aware that the failure to respond to the question my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones asked about compensation discredits government and therefore diminishes the standard of our politics?

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, I did not fail to respond to the noble Lord but I reiterated the Government's decision in the light of the careful review which they undertook when they came to office. These are difficult decisions but nevertheless one was arrived at s and it was the appropriate decision.