IBCA has today (Monday 14 April) started writing to more than 3,500 people who are infected as a result of the infected blood scandal and are registered with a support scheme in order to prioritise the payment of compensation. The emails and letters, which will also confirm that IBCA has details for all those people who are registered, provide advice for people who have been told they have less than 12 months to live, to prioritise their compensation claim.
We are prioritising those nearing the end of their lives because our community members and their representatives have told us how important it is for these people to start their compensation claim.
Nearing the end of life means a person has been told by a doctor or a medical professional that they might have 12 months or less to live. This could be due to any medical condition or illness. It does not need to be caused directly by an infection from contaminated blood.
Before IBCA can start an end of life compensation claim, we will need some basic information which will include name and date of birth. We will also ask for some information that shows the person might have 12 months or less to live. This information could include:
- an existing letter from a medical professional such as a doctor, registered nurse or consultant
- an SR1, DS1500 or BASRiS form which shows the person has applied to get a benefit more quickly because they’re near end of life (sometimes called ‘special rules’)
If preferred, IBCA can contact a medical professional on behalf of the person to get this information.
After we receive this information, we will aim to contact each person within 5 working days, confirming:
- if we can start the claim
- what will happen next
Once we have received responses from those nearing end of life, we will prioritise their claims and then determine how many additional invitations we can send out to the first group to claim (those who are infected and registered with a support scheme) based on our claim manager’s capacity.
The people IBCA is getting in touch with will receive their email or letter at different times over the course of the week, because of the time it takes for email and post to be sent out.