Call for hospital chiefs to step aside
● Managers at hospital could compromise inquiry claims MSP
Management at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital have been urged to “step aside” to ensure an investigation into the deaths of children linked to contaminated water is “truly independent”. Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sarwar said the “rotten” culture of nhs greater Glasgow and Clyde health board could “compromise” the inquiry.
Management of the scandalhit Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow should “step aside” to ensure an investigation into infections at the super-campus is “truly independent”, as demands grow for further government intervention in the wake of a third child death.
Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sarwar said the culture of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board was “rotten at the core” and if it remained in place, it could “compromise” the inquiry into the deaths of children linked to contaminated water and other hospitalacquired infections.
The health board was placed in special measures after being accused of covering up the deaths of children who picked up infections at the hospital. A leaked report from a whistleblower had indicated that issues of water contamination were pervasive at the hospital in 2017 and 2018 when ten-year-old Milly Main and three-year-old Mason Djemat both died of infections.
Another leaked report last week showed that the Greater Glasgow and Clyde board was told areas of the flagship £800 million campus were at a “high risk” of infection before it opened in 2015. It was also reported yesterday that another young patient who was receiving treatment contracted a hospital-acquired infection and died earlier this week.
Demands are now growing for Scotland’s health secretary, Jeane Freeman, to make an urgent statement on the scandal. Ms Freeman is scheduled to appear before MSPS later this month to explain the rising number of serious incidents at the hospital, but opposition parties have demanded she appear before MSPS tomorrow.
Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “Families need to be told the truth as to what has happened at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Jeane Freeman has to make a statement on this growing scandal.
“The crisis engulfing the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is totally unacceptable. It’s time for the First Minister to take charge and step in to demonstrate the government are actually in control and can provide answers to the safety concerns parents and families are expressing.”
Mr Sarwar said: “It’s clear that the culture is rotten at the core of the health board. It’s clear that there is a culture there of silencing, of bullying and intimidation. Whilst these people remain on the scene, they compromise the investigation and also they compromise the trust in whatever the investigation comes out with.”
A statement released by 15 affected parents said they have no confidence in the board and believe it is not fit for purpose.
The health board said that it was bound by rules of patient confidentiality when asked about the latest death and said the issue was being “appropriately managed and Health Protection Scotland has been informed.”