Tragic Milly’s infection ‘probably linked to children’s hospital’
Mum of 10-year-old girl says truth is coming out
AN INFECTION “probably” linked to Glasgow’s children’s hospital was the “primary cause of death” of a patient believed to be schoolgirl Milly Main.
A review into infections from contaminated water does not name the 10-year-old but her mum Kimberly Darroch believes the patient is her daughter.
The report states the child was in the very early phase of a stem cell transplant and that a bacterial infection was the “primary cause of death”.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was contacted by whistleblowers in 2019 who said a child with cancer had died after contracting an infection caused by the contaminated water supply at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus, which includes the Royal Hospital for Children.
In 2017, Milly, who had leukaemia, was recovering well after a stem cell transplant the month before.
However, the catheter used to administer drugs became infected. Milly went into toxic shock and died days later.
Her death certificate lists a stenotrophomonas infection of the Hickman line among the possible causes of death but Kimberly said the family were kept in the dark about a potential link to contaminated water problems at the hospital.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde previously insisted it was impossible to determine the source of Milly’s infection since there was no requirement to test the water at the time.
Kimberly said: “A tiny part of me still hoped that the link to the water supply wasn’t true.
“Finally we are starting to get answers after all these years. If it wasn’t for the whistleblowers who came forward and Anas Sarwar raising it in Parliament, we would have never known what caused Milly’s death.
“This has been a difficult time for us and we will need to come to terms with this as a family.”
Infections from contaminated water at the hospital were also found to have been an “important contributory factor” in another child’s death.
The child died within six weeks of an infection.
The case note review examined the cases of 84 children who developed infections while having treatment at the hospital and 118 episodes of infection in total.
The report, to be published on Monday, found a third of the infections “probably” originated in the hospital and the rest were “possibly” picked up there.
The authors recognised some families would be disappointed that they could not have greater certainty about links between the infection and the hospital.
They criticised gaps in the data provided by NHSGGC.
The review was ordered as part of wider investigations into problems with the drainage and ventilation system at the £850million QEUH campus.
Last night, Sarwar said: “I pay tribute to the whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to expose the truth and overcame repeated cover-up attempts by management.
“The Scottish Government now has a duty to support all the families affected.”
NHSGGC said the families had been given an embargoed copy of the report to allow them to reflect on its findings.
It added: “We respect this and we will respond when the report is published on Monday.”
If it wasn’t for the whistleblowers and Anas Sarwar we would have never known