Positive Action in HSE judicial review case

An advocacy group working with women infected with hepatitis C from contaminated blood products yesterday began judicial review proceedings against the HSE over a change in an agreement governing its funding.

Positive Action, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, is a support group run by a voluntary executive committee for women infected with hepatitis C through contaminated anti-D, which was manufactured by the Irish Blood Transfusion Board.

At the High Court sitting in Cork yesterday, John Rogers SC opened the case for Positive Action.

The group, which received €558,000 in public funds in 2011, is taking the judicial review against a HSE decision made in March 2012 requiring the group to enter into a standard service-level agreement issued by the HSE for its relationships with non-statutory groups