Mystery over deadly virus outbreak

An official health report claimed there was a Covid-19 outbreak at Girvan’s hospital but the NHS deny it.

The document said Girvan Community Hospital experienced a“small outbreak of Covid-19, which was dealt with very effectively by the team.”

Six extra beds were set up during the pandemic but they were not needed according to the report.

An NHS Ayrshire & Arran boss said the outbreak never happened.

Nurse director Hazel Borland said:“I can confirm that there have been no reported outbreaks of Covid-19 in Girvan Community Hospital.”

The report, which mentioned the coronavirus incident, was presented to councillors and other members of the South Ayrshire Integration Joint Board, which oversees health and social care.

They were presented with the document on June 25.

When asked why the report contained details of a Girvan outbreak, an NHS spokeswoman said:“We do acknowledge that there has been an issue with the information given at South Ayrshire Integration Joint Board and this has been an error and will be amended.”

The contents of the publicly available report - which is entitled Covid-19 mobilisation plan - phase 2 - were still unchanged two weeks later on July 10 at time of writing.

Councillor Hugh Hunter, Conservative, said:“It seems strange that the covid-19 mobilisation report should report that Girvan Hospital had a small outbreak that was quickly contained by the staff yet NHS Ayrshire and Arran that the report was wrong.

The politician, who sits on the South Ayrshire Integration Joint Board, added:“If there was an outbreak then staff are to be commended for their swift action but it does beg the question as to why the Health Board thought it was a mistake. This confusion needs to be cleared up.”