NHS admits to using taxpayers’ cash to spy on dead man’s widow

HEALTH chiefs have used taxpayers’ cash to monitor the social media of the widow of a dead patient, it has emerged.

Louise Slorance is leading a campaign to find answers regarding a catalogue of deaths at glasgow’s Queen elizabeth University hospital (QEUH), including that of her late husband Andrew.

NHS greater glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) admitted recently it had been monitoring her online activity – but has now conceded it hired a contractor to do the job.

Last night, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: ‘It is utterly obscene that taxpayer money is being spent this way.’

Civil servant and father-of-five Mr Slorance, 49, died in 2020 while waiting for cancer treatment at the QEUH.

he had caught Covid in hospital but his wife later found he had also contracted a deadly fungal infection, Aspergillus – which may have been linked to poor construction standards at the QEUH.

Mrs Slorance, 46, is campaigning for justice for families who lost their loved ones in similar circumstances.

She told the Sunday Mail: ‘this is disgusting.

‘NHSGGC should be carrying out their role in providing safe and effective care, not monitoring dead patients on social media. It is morally and ethically wrong.’

NHSGGC admitted last month it had been conducting ‘social listening’ around Mrs Slorance’s online activity. this involved searches for key words relating to individuals or issues.

however, it insists it has not monitored any other patients or their families and has now ceased tracking Mrs Slorance, who only discovered she was a target via a Freedom of Information request.

now it has emerged the tracking was done by a contractor. nhSggC will not name the company for commercial reasons.

Mr Sarwar said: ‘the SnP cannot keep enabling this shameful behaviour from the nhSggC leadership, which has treated grieving families with unimaginable cruelty time and time again.

‘the culture of secrecy and coverup must end now – all those involved in this appalling scandal must be sacked.’

nhSggC denied ‘spying’ on Mrs Slorance. A spokesman said: ‘In the same way as other large organisations, and due to the scale of social media interactions with and about nhSggC, we utilise social listening tools and regularly review the content of traditional media, so we can better understand developing issues as they happen.

‘We take our responsibilities in relation to people’s privacy very seriously. the information we read about our organisation is only that which has been published and made publicly-available by individual users or authors.’

the QeUh is at the centre of a public inquiry into whether construction standards led to the deaths of three child patients and dozens of others who picked up infections while being treated.

‘Morally and ethically wrong’