Hear my voice too
Grieving mother waits years for answers
PARENTS JOIN CAMPAIGN FOR PATIENTS’ CHAMPION
A mother whose threeyear-old son died during a contamination scandal at a flagship hospital has backed calls for a Patients’ Commissioner for Scotland.
Victoria Freeman says she is still waiting for answers almost three years after her son Mason died but will never give up her struggle to discover the reasons for his death.
A police and Procurator Fiscal investigation into her son’s death at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, in August 2017 is ongoing but Victoria said: “Mason was running around the ward one minute and two hours later he was being whisked into ICU. The last thing my baby did was reach out for me, and then he was gone.
“It haunts me that I almost wasn’t there for his last moment on earth because I’d left to get a change of clothes because he was doing so well. At least the last thing he saw was my face and he knew I was with him.
“But three years on, I’m still no nearer knowing what happened. That is wrong. There is an overwhelming need for a Patients’ Commissioner, I’m utterly committed to seeing this happen.”
She spoke out to back the campaign urging the Scottish Government to appoint a patients’ champion to investigate complaints and hold authorities to account.
Victoria said: “Until you have had to go through it, you just can’t imagine what its like being up against such huge organisations. I have found it to be a cold and unresponsive system with no time or
empathy for parents who have lost a child and need answers.
“When Mason died I was told to fill out a form as if I was making a complaint about a hotel that didn’t meet standards, or a supermarket purchase that wasn’t right. I was talking about the life of my child being taken and they wanted me to follow a complaints procedure.
“All along the way, officials have wanted to just ‘close the book’ on Mason, and move on.
“Nobody seems to understand that Mason was my child, my whole world, and I will never ‘close the book’ on him. I want answers. He deserves answers.”
Mason, from Stewarton, Ayrshire, was being treated for a rare genetic condition at a time when wards at the Royal Children’s Hospital on the QEUH complex had been closed because of water contamination issues.
A few weeks before Mason’s death, Milly Main, 10, died at the Glasgow hospital after contracting an infection while she was being treated for cancer. Victoria said: “All the families affected by what happened at this hospital deserve the truth, and they shouldn’t have to wait years for answers. There is no support for families when things go wrong, so the current system does need to change.
“We’re trusting people who don’t want to be held accountable with our children, and they just don’t care. We need a champion to stand up and care for every family who has lost someone, for every child like Mason who is no longer here when they should be.”
Victoria was joined by other parents who say they have waited too long for answers over the treatment of their children. They spoke out to support the calls for the Scottish Government to appoint a patients’ champion to investigate complaints and hold ministers and health authorities to account.
A Patients’ Safety Commissioner in England was recommended in a landmark report by Baroness Julia Cumberlege exposing how women had been failed by the system in a series of health scandals, including the use of mesh implants. Baroness Cumberlege told The Post last week Scotland should appoint a Commissioner to ensure the voices of patients are heard and heeded and her call has won widespread support.
Charmaine Lacock, whose four-year-old daughter Paige has leukaemia, says a Commissioner would be a “beacon of hope” for families left struggling for years without answers.
The 42-year-old Glasgow mum of four, who represents families affected by the infections scandals at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Royal Children’s Hospital
in the city, said: “Scotland’s patients desperately need someone to speak for us, someone to shine a light on the truth and take action when things go wrong.”
A series of infection outbreaks – and at least four deaths – are being investigated at the £840 million hospital campus, amid fears the infections were linked to the building. In September last year, ministers announced a public inquiry after it emerged there had been widespread water contamination and concern around the ventilation systems.
“Families affected by this scandal are facing years of waiting for inquiries, even to get answers to simple questions that could have been answered right at the beginning of this nightmare,” said Charmaine. “And because we’re not getting answers, families continue to be scared to use our NHS, which is unacceptable. Lives are lost when nobody listens to concerns, and that has to stop.”
In a condemnation of how thousands of women maimed by mesh and babies suffered birth deformities after their mothers took prescription drugs Primodos and Sodium Valproate, Baroness Cumberlege published a report that called for a shake-up of the UK’s medicines regulatory