Scotland’s wheels of injustice
Victims’ families urge action as official inquiries grind to halt
They have waited years and years to discover why their loved ones were lost in unexplained tragedies. Today, the families of victims say that grinding delay piles agony upon agony and can no longer continue.
They spoke out after a public inquiry sparked by a contamination scandal at a flagship hospital in 2017 opened last week. Lord Brodie’s inquiry opened a year after being announced by Scottish ministers but only to say the first witnesses may not be heard for up to a year.
With some official inquiries taking up to nine years to begin, victims say the system is broken and needs urgent action.
Leading lawyer David Short, writing in The Sunday Post today, says such long delays are unnecessary, avoidable and make it impossible for families to move on from their grief. He said the Crown Office needs more resources, but warned: “Unless we see a major investment, I cannot see things changing for Scotland.”
Scotland’s slow justice has been condemned by families forced to wait years for answers after losing loved ones in tragedies demanding official investigation and explanation.
They spoke out after a public inquiry into two flagship hospitals opened last week only to reveal it could be up to a year before a word of evidence is heard.
Lord Brodie’s inquiry into potentially-fatal construction flaws at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, in Glasgow, and the still-toopen Royal Hospital for Sick Children, in Edinburgh, was announced a year ago by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman after a contamination scandal was linked to the death of patients at the QEUH in 2017. It is feared the inquiry could take at least three more years to conclude.
Theresa Smith, from Greenock, whose newborn daughter Sophia died after catching a fatal infection at the Glasgow hospital three years ago, said that is untenable and called for change. She said: “Having to wait years for answers has made it impossible for us to properly grieve for Sophia. It’s an extra burden none of us should have to endure.”
From launch to conclusion, public inquiries and Fatal Accident Inquiries in Scotland are taking up to nine years and leading lawyers have backed grieving families asking why the process is so slow.
In England, former prime minister Theresa May announced there would be an inquiry the day after the Grenfell Tower blaze claimed 72 lives in June 2017 and the first public hearings began on the anniversary of the tragedy. In Scotland, in contrast, it took five years for an inquiry to start into the Clutha disaster when 10 people died after a police helicopter crashed into a busy pub.
Another inquiry into a helicopter crash involving a North Sea Super Puma in 2013 had a preliminary hearing in January when Sheriff Principal David Pyle compared progress to “wading through treacle”.
Leading lawyer David Short, writing in The Sunday Post today, says such long delays are unnecessary, avoidable and make it impossible for families to move on from their trauma and grief.
He said the Crown Office needs more resources to reduce the long delays in delivering justice, but added: “Unless we see a major investment in staff and resources, I cannot see things changing for Scotland. The backlog is too big, and there are too few people able to tackle those major cases waiting, some of which are extremely complex.”
The daughter-in-law of a woman who lost her life in the C-Difficile outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital backed calls for an investigatory system that is more responsive to families. Michelle McGinty described her battle to get answers but says she met only closed doors and indifference.
Michelle, 43, said: “In the beginning, I thought we were on our own when we lost my motherin-law, Sarah. It was such a shock because she was only 67 when she died in February 2008. She’d suffered a stroke and was in the Vale of Leven waiting for a care package to be put in place so we could get her home when she became very ill.
“I quickly learned I had to ask the right questions, and that’s how I discovered we weren’t the only ones losing loved ones. We were right at the heart of one of Scotland’s biggest health scandals. Before it was over, 34 people had lost their lives and we would face a five-year battle for justice that all but broke us.”
The Vale of Leven Inquiry overturned the cause of death of Sarah’s death certificate from a stroke to C-Diff, the highly infectious bacteria that rampages through hospitals and care homes when proper infection controls are not in place. But
Michelle said it took too long: “It was six and a half years after Sarah died before we finally got to hear the inquiry report by Lord MacLean. How can it take six and a half years to hold an inquiry when so many people have died, and families need answers? How can that be allowed to happen in a civilised country?”
The determined mum said she does not blame Lord MacLean who
– Michelle McGinty lost her mother-in-law in hospital infection scandal
she believes did a “wonderful job” but accuses NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and the Scottish Government of failing to put in place the rigorous inspection regimes that should prevented what he described as “dysfunctional practices” at the hospital.
Michelle said: “The whole trauma of fighting for the truth made me determined to help others so they didn’t have to, so I’m now in my fourth year studying law at university. I’m determined to see if I can play a part in making the system change. There’s so much effort put into covering up instead of organisations being upfront and learning from their mistakes. The Vale of Leven inquiry cost about £12 million, and it hurts me that nobody seemed to really learn from the mistakes.”
Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie says the years waiting for the Vale of Leven inquiry still “tears her apart”. She said: “Nobody got the chance to grieve. We were all too busy fighting to get answers, get an inquiry and, of course, get the truth. It took two and a half years for the government to even agree to an inquiry. I understand why families feel angry and cheated, and it’s the same reason why our system needs to radically change.”
Other families who lost loved ones in accidents have spoken of their frustration at the length of the process and feelings of helplessness.
Marie Murray’s beloved husband Kenny was killed in the Stockline factory explosion in Maryhill, Glasgow, on May 11, 2004, when eight others died and 33 were injured. Marie, 60, from Paisley, said her husband was the only one in the basement and took the full force of the explosion. She couldn’t protect her three children from the awful truth, but none of them was prepared for the length of time the inquiry would take.
She said: “It took five years for us to learn the whole truth, and that is too long. I don’t think any of us ever felt we got justice for those we lost. The system took too long and was too impersonal for that.”
And a father whose son was killed in the Clutha helicopter disaster said the families of victims waited five years for an inquiry that failed to provide the answers they needed.
Ian O’Prey, 74, who lost his only son Mark, 44, said: “The torment of waiting years for that inquiry meant we never got a proper chance to grieve for our son and, as a result, we’ve continued to suffer.
“My son lay just three feet from the front door of the Clutha for hours, and we still don’t know why he wasn’t brought out of the building. Nobody was really interested in getting the answers we needed. It was all about money not people. Our son never had a voice in that inquiry, and neither did we.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry last week announced its next series of hearings will look at why it took so long for the inquiry to be set up, despite calls beginning as far back as 2002.
The Crown Office said: “Crown Office Prosecutor Fiscal Service has made significant changes to its working practices in relation to the investigation of deaths through a modernisation project. Additional resources have been brought in, and there has been a focus on clearing older cases.
The Scottish Government said: “We have provided extra resources to the Crown Office in response to an increasingly complex caseload. Preparations for the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry were inevitably affected by the Covid-19 restrictions in place earlier this year.”
‘ I don’t think any of us felt we got justice