‘Bosses must be stripped of control’ after Milly tragedy
HEALTH chiefs should be stripped of control of a hospital where a ten-year-old girl died from an infection, an MSP has insisted.
Anas Sarwar described NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) as ‘not fit for purpose’ and demanded it be brought under Scottish Government control.
Milly Main was in remission from leukaemia when she contracted a fatal infection, at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).
Mr Sarwar hit out at NHSGGC’s treatment of a whistleblower who went public to link the death to contaminated water.
Milly’s mother, Kimberly Darroch, has said she is ‘100 per cent’ certain contaminated water caused the infection – and has told how she feels ‘let down’ and ‘lied to’ over her daughter’s death. NHSGGC insist they cannot determine whether the infection was linked to the water supply because they were not obliged to test for stenotrophomonas – listed as a possible cause on the child’s death certificate – at the time of her death.
This failed to satisfy Mr Sarwar, who yesterday called for the board to be brought under ‘special measures’ – meaning the Government would take control.
He accused the board of ‘threatening and intimidating’ the whistleblower, who claimed that the death was caused by contaminated water at the QEUH in 2017.
Mr Sarwar said: ‘The health board has unforgivably let down patients and staff.
‘There was an attempted cover-up of Milly’s death, and there are still dozens of families who don’t know the truth about infections contracted in the QEUH. The Scottish Government must put the health board into special measures, so that Ministers take control, staff can speak out in confidence they will not lose their jobs, and parents can learn the truth. NHSGGC is not fit for purpose.’
Health Minister Jeane Freeman, who has faced calls to resign over allegations of a ‘cover up’ following Milly’s death, admitted NHS GGC had to improve practices.
Yesterday, she said: ‘I’ve been clear with NHSGGC that its approach to engagement with affected families had not been good enough, and it has sought to improve how they do this.’
An NHSGGC spokesman said: ‘The truth is there is no way to know this as we did not consider this to be the source at the time and we did not test for the particular infection in the water supply.
‘We remain very concerned that a member of staff has made a claim of a link when there is no evidence of this, causing distress and anxiety to Milly’s parents.’