IS NHS REALLY SAFE IN THEIR HANDS?

EVERY parent’s worst nightmare is a child falling ill. From the moment they are born, we do all we can to nurture and protect them but nagging at the back of the mind of each and every devoted mum and dad is the fear that something might go terribly wrong.

The story of Milly Main will linger long in the minds of all who have read it. In remission from cancer, she was struck down by an infection while in hospital and died.

A clinician-led review – still unpublished by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman – of an outbreak of infection two years ago at the Royal Hospital for Children, which is part of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus in Glasgow, suggests that contaminated water might have been to blame for illness in 26 children, including one who died.

Milly’s mother, Kimberly Darroch, insists Milly is the child who died. Her daughter’s death certificate would appear to confirm her fears – it lists as a possible cause organ failure due to an infection contracted through a tube used to administer drugs.

Today this newspaper reveals a second disturbing case at the flagship facility. Police are investigating the death of a threeyear-old boy, who died while he was being treated at the QEUH in 2017.

As was the case until a whistleblower spoke up about the infected water at the hospital, the probe into the death of this toddler has been concealed behind a veil of bureaucratic secrecy.

Calls for ministerial resignations are often scattered around carelessly, but Ms Freeman must surely now be considering whether she can continue in her role.

When the SNP was heading towards its first Holyrood election victory back in 2007, the party focused much of its attention on the NHS.

The health service may have been established by the Labour Party, said the Nationalists, but they were now its real champions. If the NHS was to flourish, it would only do so under the steady stewardship of the SNP.

This message struck a chord with many voters frustrated by long waiting times and crumbling facilities.

When the Nationalists took power, Nicola Sturgeon was appointed health secretary. The party’s second-incommand was taking charge of the NHS. It was a bold statement. It said the SNP realised how important the health service was to voters.

Ms Sturgeon’s time in charge of the NHS was fairly uneventful, largely because she shied away from any serious reform. She was, instead, content to adopt a managerial approach, seeing through changes instigated by the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition that had governed at Holyrood between 1999 and 2007, and offering up attention-grabbing giveaways such as free prescriptions and the abolition of parking charges for hospital visitors.

Ms Sturgeon was succeeded as health secretary by Alex Neil, who was later replaced by Shona Robison.

A ‘don’t rock the boat’ approach to the service remained and it continues today, under Ms Freeman.

We do not yet know the detail of how the cases of Milly and the unnamed toddler were handled by officials and politicians, but we can say for certain there has been no transparency. Instead, Ms Freeman and Ms Sturgeon have maintained the narrative that the NHS is safe only in their hands.

We should not be expected to simply accept the words of politicians when it comes to standards in the NHS, or in any other area.

We must be able to judge for ourselves how effective they are. In order for us to do this properly, we need to know precisely what is happening on their watch – we need openness not only about successes but about failures, too.

Ms Freeman’s record on transparency is not, I’m afraid, a good one. Details of the ongoing scandal at the new, and still unopened, Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh have had to be dragged out of her.

That she has been forced by others to address publicly the cases of deaths at the QEUH is entirely in keeping with her approach.

With their eye always on independence, SNP politicians may be tempted to sweep bad news under the carpet.

The admission by ex-justice secretary Kenny MacAskill that his decision to deny the vote to prisoners was driven not by principle but by concern that to do so might harm the 2014 referendum campaign provides real insight into the Nationalists’ mindset.

It would be unforgivable if SNP ministers were adopting a similar approach to the NHS, keeping problems hidden in order to maintain the illusion of competence.

‘ Keeping problems hidden to give an illusion of competence