A Greenwich woman was amongst dozens of protesters at the Infected Blood Inquiry lobbying Rishi Sunak to authorise full compensation payments when he gave evidence.

Campaigners were calling on the Prime Minister to pay full compensation to those infected and affected by contaminated blood and blood products, as recommended by Sir Brian Langstaff, chairman of the inquiry, in April.

Mr Sunak has previously said the Government will wait for the full report into the infected blood scandal before considering whether to extend the compensation scheme for victims.

Susan Lee, from Greenwich, south-east London, who has von Willebrand disease and was infected by hepatitis C.

The 44-year-old said her marriage broke down and her young children had to help care for her during years that she was unwell.

Miss Lee, who is also vice-chair of the Haemophilia Society board of trustees, said: “I was receiving regular clotting agent, it started off with safe medication then I was changed to Factor VIII, at some point during my childhood I received contaminated blood product.

“I’ve had multiple health problems over many, many years, had to go through gruelling treatment.

“I had very young children at the time, two under five. I had a marriage breakdown and my children became carers at a very young age.

“It had huge emotional distress and caused a break-up of the family.

“And it was all unnecessary because this never needed to happen.

“People are dying at a rate of one every four days, the Government has got to put right the wrongs of the past.

“There are lots of people that have been infected that are getting absolutely nothing (in compensation) and they are dying. It’s a really big problem.”

The Infected Blood Inquiry was established in 2017 to examine how thousands of patients in the UK developed HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products given in the 1970s and 1980s.

About 2,900 people died in what has been labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

Sir Brian has said an interim compensation scheme should be widened so more people – including orphaned children and parents who lost children – could be compensated.

He said in April he was taking the unusual step of making the recommendation ahead of the publication of the full report into the scandal so that victims would not face any more delays.

Under the initial scheme, only victims themselves or bereaved partners can receive an interim payment of around £100,000.