VIRUS ‘BLEW THROUGH HOSPITAL LIKE A DRAUGHT’

Families tell of their heartbreak during Covid-19 outbreak

FAMILIES have shared heartbreaking accounts of the loss of loved ones in the Glasgow hospital at the centre of a major outbreak of Covid-19.

Gartnavel General is said to have recorded 81 cases of the virus and 25 deaths “in a matter of weeks”.

A whistleblower has claimed the transfer of elderly patients from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – which has only single rooms – to Gartnavel, to free up space for Covid admissions led to the virus spreading ‘like a cruise ship’.

The spate led to calls from Labour’s Monica Lennon for the Scottish Government to disclose the number of hospital acquired infections.

David Holgate died on April 19 and Covid-19 was recorded as the cause of death. His family say he tested negative for the virus when he was admitted to Gartnavel.

The 91-year-old was transferred from his care home in Knightswood to the QEUH on March 7 suffering from pneumonia. He recovered but doctors were not keen for him to return to the home until he had regained more mobility, so he was transferred to Gartnavel for rehabilitation.

His daughter, Mags, says doctors told the family they were moving her father because there were Covid patients being admitted to the Queen Elizabeth and it was “the safer of the two hospitals”.

While her father was initially put in a single room at Gartnavel, the family say he was moved to a three-bed ward within a few days.

They were delighted when a consultant discussed discharging him back to his care home. However, shortly afterwards his condition deteriorated and he tested positive for the virus on April 10.

Mags said: “That virus blew through the hospital like a draught. It was awful.

“By the time my dad was in his last days the ward he was in had gone from no Covid patients to all Covid.

“When his test came back positive he was in a three-bedded room with two patients that, at that time, did not have the virus.

“I know this because I called to speak to my dad at 8pm-ish and they were moving him to a different room.

“The nurse that answered told me I could not speak to him as he was being moved, as the patients he was sharing a room with did not have Covid.

“The staff were amazing, I really don’t think I could have done their job. Initially I was terrified to go see my dad but I could not abandon him. I needed to see him and he would have needed to hear my voice.

“My sister, brother and myself miss our dad. We were robbed the last few weeks of his life because of this pandemic.

“We will never know if he had been discharged sooner back to the care home, would the virus have missed him? We thought he would be with us for another few years. He was a tough, stubborn old coot. When I read the Glasgow Times article, it brought all the raw emotion I felt at the time back to the surface.

“I know my dad was nearing the end of his life but this was not the ending he deserved. He died alone with no-one to hold his hand.

“When they called me to tell me he had passed, he had been dead for 30 minutes. It has been the worst experience of my life. The elderly have been treated like they do not matter but their lives are as important as any other.”

Frances McCarry’s husband Ian, 79, was transferred to Gartnavel after having hip surgery at the QEUH.

Her husband has a number of complex medical conditions, including Alzheimer’s and Vascular Parkinsonism and had been in a care home previously. However, Frances said she has noticed a huge decline in his cognitive abilities since he was treated for the virus, which he contracted at Gartnavel.

He was transferred on February 6, before the pandemic took hold, suffering from MRSA and was initially put in a single room.

Around a month later, on March 14, he was put into a four-bedded unit and Frances says he was “shuttled back and forth” between single rooms and other open bays as more patients tested positive for the virus.

She said: “On March 30, Ian was moved to a four-bed room. I was told that they were “just moving people about” and also “someone in Room 29 had become quite ill”.

“I was very unhappy about him having been in a ward with someone who had coronavirus, and I also could not understand how it could even have happened that someone had contracted the virus, as there had been no visitors allowed since March 25 and I knew that the staff had PPE.”

Her husband tested positive for the virus on May 5.

She said: “I am grateful that he has at least been spared the worst symptoms of the virus and above all, death.

“Sadly, however, in the couple of phone calls and Facetime chats I have been able to have with him over the past two weeks, including today, I have seen a huge decline in him mentally.

“It would be easy to argue that this may have happened anyway, given that he hasn’t seen me or his family for more than eight weeks now but I know just how animated and chatty he was, even on the day he was first tested, compared to the person he is since he contracted the virus.”

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has said infection control procedures were tightened after it became apparent there was a rise in cases at Gartnavel.

Mrs McCarry said: “I have nothing but praise, admiration and heartfelt gratitude for the care,