People infected with hepatitis C - stage 1 payment

Supporting evidence

If you believe you were infected with hepatitis C as a result of treatment with NHS blood, blood products or tissue, we assess your application using a balance of probabilities approach.

To do this we base the assessment on the strength of all the supporting evidence available.

If you're unsure if the type of information you have is relevant to your case, contact us to discuss this. We can also offer advice on how to try and obtain copies of any medical records that may be available to support your claim.

Applications where medical records are available to confirm that treatment with NHS blood, blood products or tissue occurred prior to September 1991, will be more straightforward to assess.

An application might still be successful if you can provide other forms of evidence, such as:

• medical records of the procedure that led to the need for treatment with blood, blood products or tissue but where this is not specifically mentioned
• witness statements from people who were witness to the treatment or were aware of it happening at the time
• personal statement giving as much information as possible regarding the procedure that you underwent and the circumstances that led to the need for treatment with blood, blood products or tissue
• physical evidence of the procedure that led to treatment with NHS blood, blood products or tissue

We'll be unable to trace medical records to support your application on your behalf. For more information on requesting medical records, go to our requesting medical records page.

Evidence about blood products

We'll look at all available evidence regarding the risks associated with certain types of blood products at the time you received the treatment.

Examples of blood products that have been associated with a risk of hepatitis C transmission include:

• whole blood
• blood components: red cells, white cells (granulocytes), platelets, fresh frozen plasma (FFP), cryoprecipitate
• coagulation factors (Clotting factors) - Factor VIII, Factor IX, DEFIX, FEIBA
• bone marrow
• intravenous immunoglobulins

Intramuscular immunoglobulins produced by the NHS, including anti-Rh(D) immunoglobulin given to Rh(D) negative women during and after pregnancy with an Rh(D) positive baby, have not been associated with the risk of viral transmission.

We'll aim to provide a decision on all applications within 30 working days. It may take longer if we need to ask you or your doctor for further information.

If the evidence provided by you and your doctor clearly shows that treatment with NHS blood, blood products or tissue prior to September 1991 was the probable source of your infection with hepatitis C, and that the infection was chronic, then it is likely your application will be approved.

If approved, you will receive a lump sum of £50,000 and your regular payments will be backdated to the start of the month we received the information necessary to approve your claim.

If your application is unsuccessful

We'll write to you with details of why your application was unsuccessful.

If you wish to appeal the decision, you should contact us within 4 calendar weeks from the date on the letter. We may consider appeals received after 4 calendar weeks, but only if you can provide a good reason for not contacting us earlier.

Find out how to appeal.