NOW SHE’S SORRY
Freeman apologises at last over deadly contamination
‘Buck stops with Jeane Freeman’
JEANE Freeman yesterday made a grovelling apology for the hospital contamination scandal as it emerged as many as 150 seriously ill children may have been affected.
The Health Secretary said patients and parents put at risk from water contamination at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) were entitled to ‘full answers’.
Her apology followed news over two children who died at the QEUH in Glasgow in August 2017.
Ten-year-old Milly Main contracted an infection and died while recovering from leukaemia. Weeks later, a threeyear-old boy being treated for a rare genetic disease died.
Both children had been on a ward that was later found to have been affected by water contamination.
Miss Freeman yesterday revealed four families had contacted her over the weekend amid growing contamination fears, with 26 others approaching her in the past two months.
She admitted that up to 150 patients had been treated in the oncology department since 2016. She also made it clear she did not have confidence in the work done by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) health board to address the issue.
Updating MSPs at Holyrood, she said she had ordered NHS chiefs to begin ‘escalation’ procedures for special measures to be introduced at NHSGGC.
According to a whistleblower, an investigation by doctors found up to 26 cases of water supply infections in children in the cancer wards in 2017. It followed a Health Protection Scotland investigation which found ‘widespread contamination’ of the water supply.
Miss Freeman said she had not been told by NHSGGC about the clinicianled investigation and was still waiting for the health board to give answers about what it may have found.
Asked by STV News the total number of patients affected, she said: ‘I don’t know that. In terms of affected, I think there could be a significant number of families who have had their children treated in the oncology ward at the Queen Elizabeth since 2016.
‘It is broadly speaking that group of families who may well want to come forward with questions.
‘And one of the things the board did after I met that much smaller group of families is that they identified over 100 families that they wrote to, treated from 2017, and offered to meet them and address any questions they had around infection control and so on.’
Pressed again as to how many patients had been affected since 2016, Miss Freeman said: ‘Affected in as much as their children were treated in those cancer wards, my understanding is somewhere between 100 and 150.’
She also hit out at NHSGGC chiefs, claiming they had failed to communicate with families who had ‘legitimate questions’ to which they were entitled to ‘full answers’. Asked whether she had confidence in the health board management, she said: ‘Do I have confidence in the quality of the work they have done with patients and families in the cancer wards in the kids’ hospital up until now? No, I don’t.
‘If I did, I wouldn’t be taking the steps I am taking.’
In her statement to MSPs, Miss Freeman offered a public apology to families who had been affected by the contamination scandal.
She said: ‘To lose a loved in any circumstances is hard, but I cannot begin to imagine the pain of losing a child in these circumstances – or the suffering and grief that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
‘I also want to apologise to them that they feel they have not had their questions answered.
‘They are absolutely right to ask and pursue their questions and they are entitled to have them answered and to receive the support they need.’
After media reports last week about Milly’s death at the QEUH, Miss Freeman admitted she had known about the case for two months but cited the importance of maintaining patient confidentiality as her reason for not making a public statement.
Miss Freeman also revealed yesterday she had asked the head of NHS Scotland, Malcolm Wright, to review whether any escalation measures for the NHSGGC board were required.
The five-stage NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework is the Scottish equivalent of special measures used in England and Wales.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Monica Lennon said that Miss Free
man’s ‘vague’ statement was ‘disappointing’ and questioned if families could have trust in her.
She said: ‘The tragic deaths and infection scandals at the QEUH have been cloaked in secrecy for too long. Families and the wider public need to have full confidence in the health board and the cabinet secretary.’
However, Miss Freeman insisted families could ‘place trust in me’.
She said: ‘I have compassion, I have empathy and that is why I met those families and have undertaken the work that I have done.
‘I refute absolutely… that I am careless or irresponsible on these matters – it could not be further from the truth.’
Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs again called on Miss Freeman to resign. He said: ‘At the heart of this scandal, we must never forget, are grieving families who are completely unsatisfied and think there has been a coverup – and who can blame them?
‘The SNP planned and built this hospital and has presided over its first few years in operation – it can’t just keep pointing the finger at everyone else. As the SNP Health Secretary, the buck stops with Jeane Freeman.’
Last night, a spokesman for NHSGGC admitted ‘communication with families and parents has not been good enough and we deeply regret this’. The spokesman said: ‘We completely understand this has been a distressing time for families and our staff and we apologise for the anxiety caused.
‘We continue to take steps to improve communications and to answer questions openly and truthfully. There are clearly lessons for this board to learn and we are committed to making the necessary improvements.’
Yesterday, two mothers whose children are having cancer treatment at QEUH expressed their disappointment with Miss Freeman’s comments. Both met her last year. Charmaine Lacock told STV: ‘I’m shocked. I’m so disappointed. We were sittting here hoping she would do the right thing.’
Karen Stirrat’s son Caleb, three, is having chemotherapy for a brain tumour. Since the issues with the water supply, his mother says he has been given anti-fungal medication as a preventative measure.
Mrs Stirrat said: ‘He’s still not off it, there’s no further answers. Are we supposed to just live in this bubble? It’s our kids’ lives at risk and other kids on the ward. You’re supposed to feel safe and that’s the least thing we feel in there.’