Sharing information relating to Infected Blood Compensation Authority claims guidance for patients and service users

The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) website includes the following information to support you making a claim for compensation:

• how to claim, and how to calculate the compensation you might get, if you are someone who is infected (including where you were infected by your partner or by living with an infected person)
• how to claim compensation on behalf of someone who has died, if you are representing their estate
• how to claim if you are an ‘affected person’ this is for a person claiming compensation who is a family member, partner, or unpaid carer of someone who was infected. This claims process has not started yet, so further information will follow

The IBCA website provides details of the documents you may need to support your claim. This includes documents to prove who you are.

Information from your medical records may be needed to support your claim. If you are claiming compensation on behalf of someone who has died, information from that person’s medical records may be needed. IBCA knows that you may not have this information yourself. When you start your claim, your dedicated claim manager will guide you through what's needed.

If you already have the medical records, you can choose to share them with IBCA. If not, you don't have to find the information yourself. IBCA will contact the organisations that hold the records to ask for the medical information they need.

Organisations will only share information that is relevant to your claim with IBCA. This could include:

• information about when you (and, where relevant, the person who infected you if you were not infected through receiving treatment) were infected - for example, evidence of the date of a blood transfusion
• information about when you (and, where relevant, the person who infected you) were diagnosed - for example, evidence of your blood test results, scans or letters to you confirming the diagnosis
• information about if and how your diagnosis changed over time - for example, your initial diagnosis may have led to further complications
• information to support an accelerated claim - for example, medical information to show you are nearing the end of your life

Where you are claiming on behalf of someone who has died, it will be their information requested rather than your own.

You do not need to do anything to ensure that the NHS provides this medical information to IBCA. IBCA will contact the NHS organisations that have provided you (or, where relevant the person who infected you) with care and ask them for the information.

NHS organisations are legally required to provide the information to IBCA. They do not need to ask for your consent before sending the information, even if the information is confidential. If you were infected by someone else, rather than through NHS treatment, the NHS also does not need that person’s consent if it is relevant to your claim. This ensures that your claim is dealt with as quickly as possible.

IBCA will only use information to support your claim. If it wishes to use it for something else, they will have to ask you first. You can read more about how IBCA uses information in their privacy notice.

The Inquiry is funding a confidential support service for anyone affected by treatment with infected blood or blood products. Information that you share with the support service is not made available to IBCA.

The NHS is required by law to share information with IBCA to support claims, so you cannot object to this. Your claims manager at IBCA will discuss what information may be needed to support your claim, and you should raise any concerns with them. You can object to IBCA holding and using the information. To do this, you can contact [email protected]. IBCA will consider your request, but this may make it more difficult for you to claim compensation.

You can read more about how the scheme will work on the IBCA website.

NHS England does not hold any information about your claim so will not be able to answer any questions related to this. You can direct any questions to IBCA by emailing [email protected].