Thursday, 3 June 2004
The Skipton Fund, the body set up to manage the UK-wide ex gratia payment scheme for people who have been infected with Hepatitis C from NHS blood or blood products, will go live on the 5th of July Health Minister Jane Hutt announced today.
Welcoming this step ahead Jane Hutt said: "In August 2003 I announced that we would establish a financial assistance scheme to help those people that have been infected with Hepatitis C from NHS blood or blood products. I am pleased to be announcing today that the details of the scheme have now been agreed and the Skipton Fund will go live on the 5th July.
"I am pleased that the fund will soon be able to start processing claims. I hope that everyone in Wales who is entitled to apply will come forward."
"I have great sympathy for those people who have been infected with Hepatitis C in this way and I hope that the Skipton Fund will make a real contribution to helping their situations."
From today, people can register their details on the Skipton Fund database to receive an application form and guidance on how the scheme will work.
Notes:
On the 29 August 2003, Jane Hutt AM, Minister for health and Social Services announced that she had decided to establish a financial assistance scheme in Wales.
People who want to make a claim can register their details on the Skipton Fund database by sending in a pre-application form. This can be obtained from the Fund or downloaded from the Skipton Fund website. All people on the database will be sent an application form together with comprehensive guidance on how the scheme works and how to use the form.
People in Wales who have already given their details to the Welsh Assembly Government will be sent a pre-application form in the next few days.
Applications will be processed from Monday 5 July 2004.
Agreement between the Health Ministers of the four UK government administrations led to the establishment of the Skipton Fund to administer a common UK-wide scheme.
The scheme will make lump sum payments of £20,000 to all those who have been infected with Hepatitis C from NHS blood and blood products, with a further £25,000 when people reach a more advanced stage of illness.
The ‘advanced stage’ of illness that triggers eligibility for the £25,000 is defined as when a patient develops cirrhosis, liver cancer or if they have received a liver transplant. Legislation affecting social security benefits and residential care charging has been amended to ensure that people receiving payments from the scheme are not penalised as a result. General eligibility is defined in terms of people receiving Hepatitis C through blood, blood products or tissue from the NHS before September 1991. No payments will be made in respect of those who have died before 29 August 2003 or to people who have cleared the virus spontaneously in the acute phase of the disease. In the case of eligible people who die between 29 August 2003 and 5 July 2004, the payments will be made to their estate. Where eligible persons who die after 5 July 2004, payments will only be made to their estate if the eligible person had applied to the Skipton Fund whilst they were still alive. People who have been infected with HIV through blood, blood products or tissue on in the past, and have in addition contracted Hepatitis C in the same way, will be eligible for payments from the scheme in the same way as those who have only been infected with Hepatitis C. People who have cleared the virus as a result of treatment or who have cleared it spontaneously after a period of chronic infection will be eligible for payments from the scheme. It will be assumed that people who have developed Hepatitis C after being treated with Factor VIII or Factor IX blood clotting factor concentrates were infected as a result of that treatment. Virtually all haemophiliacs will fall into this category. If people have received compensation from other sources in connection with their infection, Skipton Fund will not make any deduction from any award to take account of this. Applicants will only need to provide basic personal details to the Skipton Fund but will need to ask their doctor to complete the main section of the application form which details information to support their eligibility. If the Skipton Fund decides that an applicant is not eligible for payment they will write explaining the reason for this decision. The applicant can then apply to an independent appeals panel which will be chaired by a QC. Applicants will not need legal advice when completing the application form and they will not be asked to sign any waiver. The scheme will not reimburse legal costs incurred in making a claim or in appealing against a decision by the Skipton Fund. People wishing to apply for a payment should contact the Skipton Fund at PO Box 50107, London SW1H 0YF (telephone: 0207 233 0057; e-mail: apply@skiptonfund.org). Further information on how the scheme will operate is available on the Skipton Fund website (www.skiptonfund.org)
"I am pleased that the fund will soon be able to start processing claims. I hope that everyone in Wales who is entitled to apply will come forward."
"I have great sympathy for those people who have been infected with Hepatitis C in this way and I hope that the Skipton Fund will make a real contribution to helping their situations."
From today, people can register their details on the Skipton Fund database to receive an application form and guidance on how the scheme will work.
Notes:
On the 29 August 2003, Jane Hutt AM, Minister for health and Social Services announced that she had decided to establish a financial assistance scheme in Wales.
People who want to make a claim can register their details on the Skipton Fund database by sending in a pre-application form. This can be obtained from the Fund or downloaded from the Skipton Fund website. All people on the database will be sent an application form together with comprehensive guidance on how the scheme works and how to use the form.
People in Wales who have already given their details to the Welsh Assembly Government will be sent a pre-application form in the next few days.
Applications will be processed from Monday 5 July 2004.
Agreement between the Health Ministers of the four UK government administrations led to the establishment of the Skipton Fund to administer a common UK-wide scheme.
The scheme will make lump sum payments of £20,000 to all those who have been infected with Hepatitis C from NHS blood and blood products, with a further £25,000 when people reach a more advanced stage of illness.
The ‘advanced stage’ of illness that triggers eligibility for the £25,000 is defined as when a patient develops cirrhosis, liver cancer or if they have received a liver transplant. Legislation affecting social security benefits and residential care charging has been amended to ensure that people receiving payments from the scheme are not penalised as a result. General eligibility is defined in terms of people receiving Hepatitis C through blood, blood products or tissue from the NHS before September 1991. No payments will be made in respect of those who have died before 29 August 2003 or to people who have cleared the virus spontaneously in the acute phase of the disease. In the case of eligible people who die between 29 August 2003 and 5 July 2004, the payments will be made to their estate. Where eligible persons who die after 5 July 2004, payments will only be made to their estate if the eligible person had applied to the Skipton Fund whilst they were still alive. People who have been infected with HIV through blood, blood products or tissue on in the past, and have in addition contracted Hepatitis C in the same way, will be eligible for payments from the scheme in the same way as those who have only been infected with Hepatitis C. People who have cleared the virus as a result of treatment or who have cleared it spontaneously after a period of chronic infection will be eligible for payments from the scheme. It will be assumed that people who have developed Hepatitis C after being treated with Factor VIII or Factor IX blood clotting factor concentrates were infected as a result of that treatment. Virtually all haemophiliacs will fall into this category. If people have received compensation from other sources in connection with their infection, Skipton Fund will not make any deduction from any award to take account of this. Applicants will only need to provide basic personal details to the Skipton Fund but will need to ask their doctor to complete the main section of the application form which details information to support their eligibility. If the Skipton Fund decides that an applicant is not eligible for payment they will write explaining the reason for this decision. The applicant can then apply to an independent appeals panel which will be chaired by a QC. Applicants will not need legal advice when completing the application form and they will not be asked to sign any waiver. The scheme will not reimburse legal costs incurred in making a claim or in appealing against a decision by the Skipton Fund. People wishing to apply for a payment should contact the Skipton Fund at PO Box 50107, London SW1H 0YF (telephone: 0207 233 0057; e-mail: apply@skiptonfund.org). Further information on how the scheme will operate is available on the Skipton Fund website (www.skiptonfund.org)
Source:
Welsh Assembly Government
