12 SUNDAY EXPRESS November 18, 2018 SUNDAY EXPRESS November 18, 2018 13 SUNDAY EXPRESS SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Pudsey power! Beloved TV appeal reaches £1bn

THE BBC’s Children in Need appeal DIABOLICAL: YET ANOTHER INSULT has now raised more than £1billion. The annual TV telethon, which was launched 38 years ago in 1980, was still the most-watched programme on TO VICTIMS OF TAINTED NHS BLOODPictures: NORTH NEWS AND PICTURES Friday night. Drawing an Infected with HIV or hepatitis, unable to average of HUMILIATED: Carol 6.2 million Grayson with her viewers, husband Peter Sunday Express more than work and forced to survive on benefi ts, now Longstaff in 2004 £50million was raised fight for justice thanks to the they fi nd themselves battling red tape to popular show, which featured Boyzone and keep those desperately-needed handouts the cast of EastEnders. I’m A Celebrity! just stopped. Because of that I lost winner Georgia EXCLUSIVE other benefi ts, the rent went up, I Toffolo, 24, was JUNGLE By Joe Duggan started having to pay community one of many QUEEN: CRUSADE charge. All I had was my pension.” celebrities who Georgia HUNDREDS of victims of the The grandfather-of-seven and backed the event. helped lift tainted blood scandal have been great-grandfather-of-two said the CRUSADING: How we backed campaigners back in 2015 ratings forced to wait for months to get DWP’s handling of benefi ts for benefi ts because of controversial JUSTICE those given contaminated blood THE Sunday Express is running a crusade on behalf of changes to the welfare system. was “absolutely disgusting”. the victims of the tainted blood scandal and won £1billion As many as 1,600 people given FOR THE He added: “What we have had to in compensation from the Government. infected blood during NHS proce- go through is diabolical. There are An extra £100million was made available to the victims dures in the 1970s and 1980s have TAINTED thousands of people whose stories of the worst treatment disaster in NHS history until 2021. or will be reassessed by outside are horrendous. A lot of them have Announcing the compensation, Health Minister Jane Dawn’s tribute as contractors for the new Personal BLOOD been turned down for PIP.” Ellison said the extra money would allow the Government Independence Payments (PIP), A tribunal ruled in his favour ear- to double the amount spent on schemes supporting the which have replaced the Disability VICTIMS lier this year and he now receives thousands of patients infected in the 1970s and 1980s. Living Allowance (DLA). PIP, as well as extra benefi t pay- She told MPs in the House of Commons: “This is This is despite doctors having ments. And a new treatment has signifi cantly more than any previous government has Dibley actor John previously said they are too sick to their teams. But Prime Minister rid him of hepatitis C. been able to provide for those affected by this tragedy.” work and having received DLA Theresa May launched a public When a campaign group carried for years until the system was inquiry into the tainted blood out a straw poll of 33 people given changed last year. scandal in September, amid fears contaminated blood it showed Tainted blood has become one of more than 25,000 people may have 48 per cent have had their ESA or Bluthal dies at 89 the worst scandals in NHS history, been infected. PIP benefi ts denied or withdrawn. Wife left feeling worthless with at least 2,400 people having One is former professional foot- The DWP also launched a review died from HIV or hepatitis viruses baller John Lister, 69, who signed of the PIP assessments of 370 hae- CAROL GRAYSON saw her husband Peter Longstaff die in since more than 4,500 patients, for Bournemouth as a 17-year-old mophiliacs with joint damage due 2005 after contracting HIV, hepatitis B and C, after being given mainly haemophiliacs, were given centre half in 1966. to bleeding disorders after mis- contaminated blood. Her haemophiliac brother-in-law Stephen contaminated blood transfusions. He was diagnosed with haemo- takes were identifi ed this summer. also died of HIV in 1987 after he too was given tainted blood. After living with the trauma of philia when he picked up a knee Colette Wintle, 59, who has hae- Carol, 58, from Newcastle, gave up her psychiatric nursing job being infected with blood imported injury a few months later. mophilia, was infected with hepati- in 1991 to care for her husband but was forced on to benefi ts A blood transfusion given to him suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after his death. in the 1970s infected him with hep- Her benefi ts were stopped for six months leaving her feeling atitis C, which cost him his mar- “worthless”. She added: “Each time you go for assessment you ‘You had to go riage, his £200,000 three-bedroom ‘The State was are reliving the trauma of what happened to your family.” cap in hand’ house and his business as a fruit cause of harm’ and vegetable wholesaler after he fi nished playing football, forcing from the US, often taken from pris- him on to benefi ts in his late 40s. tis C twice and hepatitis B in hospi- oners, sex workers and addicts, Eventually he tried to take his tals in Scotland, Kent and London specialist knowledge and decades, and subsequently no longer get one is affected by a health condi- many of the victims feel they are own life. Despite a lifetime of in the 1970s and 1980s. often, of experience with that par- the support.” tion in the same way.” being made to beg for benefi ts. fatigue, physical pain and mental The mother-of-one, who lives in ticular patient.” A DWP spokesman explained: An Independent Assessment Inquiry may last two years Controversial PIP assessments trauma, the father-of-three, who Worcestershire, was fi rst infected Jeff Courtney, head of policy and “Assessments are important to Services spokesman said: “We are have been contracted out to lives in Bournemouth, was turned aged 17 when she had her tonsils programmes at the Haemophilia ensure that people get the right extremely conscious of the impor- THE INQUIRY into the tainted than 100,000 documents have Independent Assessment Services down for PIP when applying to removed. Society, says around 1,000 of its level of support. PIP assessments tant role we perform in the PIP blood scandal launched in already been submitted. STAR: John Bluthal, circled, with Dawn French, centre, and the Dibley cast (formerly Atos) and Capita, while move from DLA last year. She has questioned whether members are due to go through a are carried out by qualifi ed health- claimant process. This is why our September could last for two years. Payments have been made to assessments for another He said: “I had DLA for the new assessors are equipped to PIP assessment. care professionals focus has consistently been on Previous inquiries including a some of the people who were DAWN FRENCH last night led tributes By Tony Whitfi eld benefi t, Employment many years. It was only deal with haemophiliacs. He said: “They had a lifelong who understand providing a professional and com- seven-year probe in Scotland were infected – the fi rst fund was set up to The Vicar Of Dibley actor John Bluthal and Support Allowance last year I was turned She said: “It is a specialist area. condition with haemophilia that not every- passionate assessment service.” branded “whitewashes”. as long ago as 1989. who has died, aged 89. miss John hugely.” Bluthal will be (ESA) were outsourced down because they You are not going to get an asses- then they were further A Capita spokesman said: “Our Now the Haemophilia Society has But if the new inquiry fi nds Bluthal played Frank Pickle in the hit remembered fondly for his role as Frank, to Maximus. changed over to PIP. sor from a company outsourced by harmed through the infec- INFECTED: disability assessors are healthcare called on this inquiry to work culpability, it opens the door for BBC comedy series and died on and the endlessly long and boring stories Critics of the new “I appealed, they the Government who will have the tions with contaminated Colette professionals equipped with the diligently to “uncover the truth, victims to seek large compensation Thursday. his character told to the other residents system brought in by turned me down full understanding and knowledge blood products. Wintle knowledge, skills and training bring justice and ultimately closure payouts through the courts. The comic actress posted a heartfelt of the village. the Department for again. You had to of living with a bleeding disorder.” “The State was the cause questions set out by the DWP to conduct for victims and their families”. Retired judge Sir Brian message on Twitter after Bluthal’s talent In one touching storyline, Frank came Work and Pensions go cap in hand. It Assessments are usually car- of that harm and yet it is medical functional-based PIP assessments Its chief executive Liz Carroll Langstaff, leading the inquiry, agency announced the news online. out as gay on the radio, only to fi nd out (DWP) say it is aimed at was like begging. ried out by health professionals not taking responsibility to skills of in central England and Wales.” said: “This scandal said it marked the start of French said: “Tons of happy laughs hardly anyone had tuned in because they cutting payouts to some “I used to get £255 such as nurses, therapists and ensure they can have a new staff A spokesman for Centre for devastated generations of something people had remembered today. Cheeky, naughty, thought he would drone on too much. of the most vulnerable. a month DLA paramedics. normal life, or as normal as Health and Disability Assess- people with haemophilia campaigned for over hilarious. Bye darlin Bluey.” The post was Bluthal was born in Poland in 1929 None of the privately- and that Jay Watts, a clinical psychologist possible, and instead makes ments, a Maximus subsidiary, and other bleeding many years. accompanied by an image of Bluthal in and was forced to fl ee to Australia with owned companies that and psychotherapist, said: “What them go through these added: “We employ highly trained disorders. Members Greater Manchester the show, in which he played the his Jewish family in 1938 to escape the picked up lucrative is shocking is that a 45-minute hoops to be entitled to and experienced doctors, nurses have waited decades mayor and former secretary for the parish council. Nazi regime. government con- interview by a disability assessor their support. and physiotherapists. They receive for this to be properly health secretary Andy Talent agency The Artist’s Partnership He moved to England in 1959 where he tracts to carry out with no previous experience of the “We have spoken extensive training so they can investigated.” More Burnham has said a wrote: “We’re sad to announce our won- starred in TV and fi lm mostly in comedy. re-assessments BEGGING: person, or specialist knowledge of to a large number sensitively and fairly assess people “criminal cover-up on derful client John Bluthal has passed He is best known for his work with late will disclose the John Lister the condition, is privileged above of people who with complex health conditions.” CAMPAIGN: Chief an industrial scale” away. Our thoughts are with his family at comedy legend Spike Milligan, and for his medical quali- lost out on letters of support and medical went through the executive Liz Carroll had taken place. this time. John provided us all with years roles in the TV series Never Mind The fi cations of benefi ts evidence from clinicians with reassessments OPINION: PAGE 14 of laughter and entertainment. We will Quality, Feel The Width.