My son had ‘near-death experiences’ at hospital

Mum terrified for cancer sufferer boy, 10, amid infections

A MOTHER has told of her son’s ‘near-death experiences’ from an infection that came from the drains at Scotland’s £1billion superhospital.

Colette Gough said she felt ‘anxious’ about her son being treated after the experience.

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry is hearing evidence on problems at two flagship hospitals that contributed to the deaths of two children.

It is investigating the construction of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus in Glasgow and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

Mrs Gough’s ten-year-old son – who is not being named – was diagnosed with cancer after becoming unwell in July 2018, aged seven, and found to have a kidney tumour.

He was being treated in the Schiehallion unit, the children’s cancer department on the QEUH campus, and underwent surgery to remove the affected kidney in early September 2018. The inquiry heard his condition deteriorated after surgery due to an infection in a catheter. Medical staff stabilised him but the same thing happened the next day.

Mrs Gough said that in mid-September, she and her husband Cameron were invited to a meeting two doctors. She said: ‘They apologised and told us the infection had come from the drains and that he was not an isolated case, that he was one of six children who had fallen ill about the same time and that there seemed to be an issue with the building and the drains and the water and, because of that, the plan was to close the ward and transfer the whole unit to somewhere else in the hospital.’

Alastair Duncan, QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked how this made her feel. She replied: ‘Quite angry – that’s the reason we’re here today because my husband and I really felt let down.’

Earlier, she said there were signs on the sinks in the Schiehallion unit asking people not to drink the water and that, during the first month of their time at the hospital, tap filters appeared.

Mr Duncan asked: ‘Thinking about where things stood, the issues you experienced… at this point in time how did you feel about the hospital?’

Mrs Gough said: ‘Anxious about every single admission and the anxiety levels just kept rising, and the fact that I was still on the bounce-back from witnessing my son’s near-death experiences and I was just running on pure adrenaline at that point.’

The inquiry was ordered after patients at the Glasgow hospital died of infections linked to pigeon droppings and the water supply, and the opening of the Edinburgh site was delayed due to concerns over the ventilation system.

Earlier this year, a review found the deaths of two children at the QEUH campus were at least in part the result of infections linked to the hospital environment.

The inquiry in Edinburgh, chaired by Lord Brodie, continues.

‘Anxiety levels just kept rising’