Milly’s mum says probe into death must find truth

Grieving woman ‘still in dark’ over what happened at flagship hospital

The mother of 10-year-old Milly Main, who died at Glasgow’s flagship hospital, has said the public inquiry which starts today must “uncover the truth” about what happened.

The inquiry will examine issues at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus in Glasgow and the mothballed Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

Kimberly Darroch believes her daughter Milly’s death was due to contaminated water at the hospital but says the family are still “in the dark”.

Milly had leukaemia from the age of five, but was in remission before contracting an infection at the QEUH in 2017.

She died in August that year, with her death certificate listing a stenotrophomonas infection of the

Hickman line – a catheter used to administer drugs – as a cause of death.

The family say they were not told about the link to contaminated water problems at the hospital.

Ms Darroch, 36, from Lanark, said: “Nearly three years since Milly died, we feel the heart-breaking loss of our daughter every day and feel we’re still in the dark about her death.

“Having been let down by the health board, we hope the public inquiry will uncover the truth about what happened at the hospital – not just for us but for all the families affected, and to ensure no other family ever has to go through what we went through.”

An independent review by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) into the water supply confirmed contamination of the system in 2018.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said in a statement: “We are truly sorry that we have not been able to provide Milly’s family with satisfactory responses to the questions that remain unanswered for them and recognise the additional distress this has resulted in.

“We welcome the forthcoming public inquiry.”

Kimberly Darroch says she is still in the dark over the death of her daughter Milly Main at QEUH, below.