An Ipswich man left with heart and kidney problems after being infected in one of the country's biggest health scandals has spoken out after MPs voted to speed up compensation for victims.

Haemophiliac Alan Burgess was co-infected with HIV and hep C in 1982. He has spent the last three decades campaigning for justice.

Following an extensive inquiry into how thousands were infected by contaminated blood, Sir Brian Langstaff published a report in April on compensation for victims. 

Under the initial scheme, only victims or bereaved partners can get an interim payment.

The inquiry's chairman said relatives – including parents who lost children and children orphaned when their parents died – remain “unrecognised” when it comes to compensation.

But the government said it wanted to wait for the full report into the scandal – due in March 2024 – before making changes to the compensation scheme.

However, MPs on Monday voted to speed up compensation for victims.

Mr Burgess, who is now 65, said 1,240 people were co-infected with HIV and hep C and there are 150 left.

He told the PA news agency: “It’s taken its toll on our bodies. I still have to take a cocktail of tablets just to stay alive. Sometimes you wonder why you have been left when others have gone.

“But the reason I have been left is to keep fighting on. What I’m fighting for now is not so much money… compensation is fine but it's not about the money, it’s about the fact they (some victims’ families) were left out by this Government with the interim payments, almost as if they didn’t matter.

“Compensation won’t bring back a parent, it won’t bring back a baby, but it will at least show that somebody has actually taken your suffering on board and said, ‘There you are, this is something for your loss’.”

Mr Burgess said he had to give up his thriving painting and decorating business when he became too ill to work.

“I was lucky, I got the interim payment, but you have got to remember that for 30 years I was basically living hand to mouth,” he said.

Other impacted families have called the Government’s handling of compensation, a “segregation of suffering”.

Campaigners plan to present a letter to 10 Downing Street demanding action on compensation.

The letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “implores” him to act on Sir Brian’s recommendations.

“Not only would it be unreasonable to await the final report before acting, it would be morally and logically wrong,” the letter adds.