A WOMAN whose father died after he contracted HIV following treatment for haemophilia has welcomed a payment of at least £100,000 to all infected blood victims and bereaved partners across the UK.

The compensation should be provided "without delay", Sir Brian Langstaff wrote in a letter to Paymaster General Michael Ellis on Friday.

The chairman said he had made the recommendation in light of the inquiry hearing evidence of "profound physical and mental suffering" caused by the scandal.

The inquiry was established to examine how thousands of patients in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.

About 2,400 people died in what has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

There are 2,007 core participants in the inquiry who are infected or affected, but it is not known whether all of these people will be eligible for compensation. Many contaminated blood victims had haemophilia, a blood-clotting disorder, and relied on regular injections of clotting agent Factor VIII, which was made from pooling human blood plasma.

Britain was running low on supplies of Factor VIII so imported products from the US, where prison inmates and others were paid cash for giving blood.

Eileen Burkert’s father, Ted, was a haemophiliac and was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C through Factor treatment. He died in 1992 at the age of 54.

His family has previously given evidence at the inquiry.

Although she is not set to receive a payment following yesterday’s recommendation, Miss Burkert, originally from Queensbury who also has one sister and three brothers, said: “I welcomed this announcement and hopefully the people who are due the payment will get it as soon as possible. I’m really pleased for every single person getting it.

“The payments need to be made as soon as possible for the people affected. The government needs to pull its finger out.

“It’s not about the money. It’s about the people being recognised.”