MSPs told ‘systemic problems’ with governance at hospital

Communication between infection control doctors and nurses at a hospital where several patients died was not good, a Holyrood committee has been told.

MSPs are holding an inquiry into infections in Scotland’s hospitals after two patients died at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow, having contracted an infection linked to pigeon droppings.

Speaking to the Scottish Parliament’s health and sport committee, the director of quality assurance at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Alastair Delaney, said that there were systemic problems in relationships and governance at the QEUH.

Committee convener, Scottish Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald, referred to comments made by Mr Delaney in his report on the QEUH (published earlier this month) which stated that he had encountered “challenges” in the relationship between the estates department and the infection control team at the hospital.

Mr Macdonald said that having heard evidence from witnesses, it was suggested that infection control doctors and nurses did not appear to have close working relationships with those managing domestic services in a number of hospitals.

Mr Delaney said: “It was a feature of what we found in the QEUH and its associated sites.

“It’s also something that we would be concerned about across the country as a whole because it is absolutely essential that there is good working relationships between the nursing staff, particularly for infection control, and the buildings staff.

“Obviously in that particular circumstance, we had quite a large backlog of repairs to be done and the communication was not particularly great about how those were being managed.”

Picture: PA.