‘I need to know the truth about my daughter’s hospital death’
THE mother of a ten-year-old girl who died at a crisis-hit superhospital has demanded that the public inquiry into problems at the site ‘uncover the truth’.
Kimberley Darroch, 36, claims her daughter Milly Main died as a result of contaminated water at the Royal Hospital for Children, at Glasgow’s £842million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).
Milly was being treated for cancer and had a successful stem cell transplant in July 2017.
The next month her Hickman line, a catheter used to administer drugs, became infected.
She went into toxic shock and died on August 31, 2017.
The public inquiry, which begins tomorrow, will examine issues at the QEUH campus and at the delayed Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh, known as the Sick Kids.
Ms Darroch, 36, from Lanark, said: ‘Nearly three years since Milly died, we feel the heartbreaking loss of our daughter every day and feel we’re still in the dark about her death.
‘Having been let down by the health board, we hope the public inquiry will uncover the truth about what happened at the hospital – not just for us but for all the families affected, and to ensure no other family ever has to go through what we went through.’
Labour MSP Anas Sarwar said families must be at the heart of the investigation after a separate review into the QEUH failed to speak to parents involved. He said: ‘There is a huge amount of pressure on this public inquiry, which must deliver answers for parents, patients and the public. ‘The catastrophic failures at the QEUH, and the associated problems with the Sick Kids in Edinburgh, are a national tragedy. ‘There’s been a complete loss of public trust in the Glasgow health board, which engaged in a disgraceful cover-up, with the water contamination problems only coming to light because of the bravery of NHS clinicians.’
Milly Main had leukaemia from the age of five, but was in remission before contracting an infection at the QEUH.
The ten-year-old’s death certificate listed a Stenotrophomonas infection of the Hickman line as a cause of death.
The family say they were not told about the link to contaminated water problems at the hospital.
Earlier this year, Mr Sarwar wrote to Scotland’s top prosecutor,
James Wolffe QC, calling on him to publicly confirm whether a fatal accident inquiry into Milly’s death would take place.
He said: ‘The success or failure of this inquiry will depend on getting answers for Milly’s parents and all the families affected.
‘The Health Secretary [Jeane Freeman] has made a firm commitment that families will be at the heart of the inquiry and that promise must be kept on behalf of grieving parents.’
Three-year-old Mason Djemat died on August 9, 2017, on a ward linked to contaminated water, only weeks before Milly died.
He had been receiving stem cell treatment for the chronic condition Hunter’s Syndrome when he died suddenly. During some of his 40day stay in hospital, he was treated in the same ward as Milly.
His mother, Victoria Freeman, is still waiting for answers almost three years after Mason’s death, which is still being investigated by police and the procurator fiscal.
Ms Freeman is promoting calls for Scotland to follow England and create the new role of patients’ commissioner. She said that her campaign to find out what happened to her son was like ‘making a complaint about a hotel’.
An independent review by Health Protection Scotland into the water supply confirmed contamination of the system in 2018.
‘Catastrophic failures are a national tragedy’