Documents you might need
During your claim, your claim manager will ask you to share supporting documents to confirm the details of your infection. This will help them process your claim and calculate your compensation.
You do not need any of these documents to register your intent to claim. You will only need to gather them once we contact you to start your claim.
Confirming your identity at the start of the claim
At the start of your claim, you will need to confirm your identity. To do this, you will need a passport or driving licence.
If you do not have these, your claim manager will explain what other identity documents you can use.
What we need to know to process your claim
We typically need documents to show:
- how you were infected
- the year you were infected
- the year you were diagnosed, if you were infected with HIV
If you have been infected with Hepatitis B or C, we may need additional documents if you have had:
- cirrhosis
- B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- type 2 or 3 cryoglobulinaemia with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis
- liver cancer
- a liver transplant
If you’ve received compensation or damages relating to infected blood in the UK or abroad in the past, we may ask for documents showing the amount.
Examples of supporting documents
There is a range of documents and other supporting information you can send to confirm your infection. Your claim manager can help you decide what to send.
Clinical records
Your clinical records cover your medical history, including your symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and treatments. They include notes from consultations, consent forms for procedures and blood transfusion records.
Your admission records show why you were admitted to hospital. Your discharge records include the results of your treatment and whether any follow-up care was required.
Test results
These are the results of blood tests, X-rays or any other scans. They show what infections you have, how they changed over time and when you were diagnosed.
Correspondence
These are the letters or notes between your GP, consultants or any other medical professionals. They cover all aspects of your care, including symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and treatments.
How to send your documents
You can send documents to IBCA by email or post.
By email
Attach digital copies of your documents to an email to your claim manager. In the body of the email, include:
- your name
- your IBCA claim reference number
- a description of what each of your documents shows, like your infection date or how your infection changed over time
If your email is rejected or will not send, this may be because your supporting documents are too large. Contact your claim manager who will explain how to send them.
By post
Do not send your original documents. We cannot guarantee when we’ll be able to return them to you, and they could get lost in the post.
Put copies of your documents in an envelope with a letter that includes:
- your name
- your IBCA claim reference number
- a description of what each of your documents shows, like your infection date or how your infection changed over time
Address your letter to: 'Freepost IBCOM'.
Do not write anything else on the envelope. You do not need a postcode or a stamp.
If you don’t have supporting documents
We know that finding documents from many years ago can be difficult, and not all medical records are still available.
Where possible, your claim manager can request your records from healthcare professionals and other organisations, or suggest other information that could support your claim.
After you share your documents
Once your claim manager has collected all known available supporting information, they will share it with an IBCA clinical advisor. The clinical advisor will then use that information to provide their specialist medical opinion on your claim.