TINY BABY DIED AT SCANDAL-HIT QEUH
Distraught mum has ‘no confidence’ in health board
A BEREAVED mum of a baby who died at the scandal-hit Glasgow super-hospital has “no confidence” in its leadership, Anas Sarwar has said.
The Scottish Labour leader revealed yesterday he was contacted by the mum of a six-month-old who died following treatment at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).
A waterborne infection called serratia was listed as a cause of death of the baby, whose name has not been made public.
At First Minister’s Questions, Sarwar repeated his demand for
Nicola Sturgeon to sack the board of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
But the SNP leader mounted a defence of the QEUH and accused Labour of undermining confidence in it.
Sturgeon said inquiries into the hospital are ongoing and removing the board during the pandemic would not be responsible.
Referencing the mum who lost her baby, Sarwar said: “That mother asked me to raise this case today. In her words, ‘I have no confidence in this health board. I have no confidence action will be taken. It is inevitable it will happen again and other patients will be affected’.
“Another child’s death. Another grieving family. What’s it going to take before action is taken?”
The First Minister said a number of reviews are being carried out and a series of recommendations about the fabric of the building have been acted upon. But she rejected any suggestion the QEUH is an “unsafe hospital”.
She pointed out it contained 11 per cent of all adult acute hospital beds in Scotland but that is responsible for just seven per cent of infection notifications.
The First Minister said: “Every case of infection is serious. The Queen Elizabeth – actually when we look at all of the evidence here – has a lower incidence of infection than many other hospitals.” On Wednesday, Labour’s call for the health board to be sacked was rejected by the Government during a debate at Holyrood.
Sarwar had earlier held a press conference with the widow of Andrew Slorance and the mother of Milly Main – two patients who died after being infected at the hospital.
Louise Slorance and Kimberly Darroch had bravely spoken out to tell the Scottish Government “enough is enough”.