Warnings repeatedly ignored by bosses
Whistleblowers raised the alarm over poor infection control at the hospital where a 10-year-old girl died just days after her death.
Milly Main contracted an infection in 2017 while recovering from leukaemia at the Royal Hospital for Children, part of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Days later microbiologists there launched a formal whistleblowing procedure.
The attempt to warn bosses about the problem, and force them to do something about it, was revealed in a submission to a Holyrood committee looking at problems at the hospital.
The letter, from a retired microbiologist, said they had begun raising concerns about infection control in 2014. They said some issues were addressed, some were not.
But the microbiologists then went further, launching a formal whistleblower procedure in September 2017, days after Milly’s death on August 31.
The whistleblower wrote: “We felt this was a last resort option as issues, some of which we felt to be critical, were not being fully addressed. The driving force was our concern for patient safety.”
But, despite this, not enough was done and in early 2018 they wrote to a senior manager at health board NHS Glasgow and Clyde.
Milly’s death and that of three-yearold Mason Djemat only came to light after a whistleblower contacted Labour MSP Anas Sarwar.
Mr Sarwar said: “It’s clear staff repeatedly raised issues about the water supply with senior management, but they weren’t listened to. Even when the revelations finally came to light, the health board continued to attempt to silence brave staff.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said:
“We have a robust whistleblowing policy which enables staff to raise concerns and have them dealt with in full confidence. We investigated a number of concerns in 2017 – which have all been dealt with – with a full and transparent governance of the concerns and action plan.”