Concerns have resurfaced regarding patient safety at a hospital embroiled in an infection scandal, according to claims made last night.
Relatives of patients affected by infections traced back to ventilation and water systems at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital express ongoing fears, stating they remain unconvinced of the hospital’s safety.
Whistleblowers have highlighted issues such as malfunctioning dishwashers, inconsistent water supply, and leaky roofs at the facility, which cost £1 billion to build.
Tragically, two children have died, and over 84 individuals have fallen ill from infections now acknowledged to be likely linked to the hospital’s water system. There is mounting pressure on the health secretary to impose special measures on the hospital.
Despite calls for accountability, including demands for First Minister John Swinney to face corporate manslaughter charges, he defended the hospital, asserting, “I think the hospital is safe,” amidst the uproar from affected families.
Among those grieving is Louise Cunningham, 41, who lost her three-year-old daughter, who had neuroblastoma cancer, after a visit to the children’s hospital.
Ms Cunningham, from Renfrew, said yesterday: ‘We’ve seen that they’re trying to say the hospital is safe.
‘In my heart of heart, I don’t believe it’s safe. And I would never take my children to that – I have a young daughter but I would never take her to that hospital at all.’
The scandal-hit Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow
Dozens of buckets catching dripping water in the atrium of the Royal Hospital for Children within the QEUH
Furious families said their loved ones contracted infections linked to the water and ventilation systems, some of whom died at the QEUT
She called on the politicians and senior managers at the health board to be ‘held accountable’.
David Campbell, whose son was treated at the hospital added: ‘It’s clear from this that the SNP cannot be trusted to govern in the interest of children and vulnerable people.’
The Edinburgh-based Scottish Hospitals Inquiry yesterday heard from lawyers representing staff who blew the whistle on issues at the hospital as well as the families of those affected by the substandard building.
Helen Watts KC, acting on behalf of the whistleblowers, told inquiry the ‘lack of an effectively operating infection prevention and control team will render the hospital unsafe’.
The children and adults who died did so shortly after the hospital opened, but health board officials denied for years that the building was to blame.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde finally admitted last week that dirty water at QEUH was the probable cause of serious infections in young cancer patients.
The health board apologised but did not accept blame in any individual cases and also claimed it had been placed under pressure to open the hospital before it was ready.
Prosecutors instructed police to launch a criminal investigation in 2021 into several deaths at the hospital and the health board was named as a suspect in 2023.
Kimberly Darroch’s 10-year-old daughter Milly Main died after contracting a bacterial infection
Maureen Dynes husband Tony died at the hospital in 2021
Victims included ten-year-old Milly Main who contracted an unusual bacterial infection while being treated for leukaemia in 2017.
Yesterday critics called for those responsible for ‘a rotten culture of secrecy’ at the health board to be held to account.
Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said: ‘SNP ministers cannot pretend there are still not serious issues at their flagship hospital a decade on from its opening.
‘Only this week a whistleblower told me about dishwashers being out of action and running water not being readily available, which will only put more patients at risk of being infected.
‘Patient and staff safety must be paramount if we are to restore confidence among them that SNP ministers are fully on top of issues at the Queen Elizabeth.
‘The time has come for Neil Gray to take decisive action by placing NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde under special measures.
‘The disgraceful admission from the health board this week has confirmed there is a rotten culture of secrecy that goes to the very top.
‘Unless Mr Gray takes urgent action and puts them under special measures, staff will continue to have no confidence they will be able to raise concerns without repercussions.’
Former Glasgow Health Board Chief Executive Jane Grant, who gave evidence to the inquiry, yesterday refused to comment
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and then Health Secretary Shona Robison at the opening of the hospital in 2015
Mr Campbell, whose son was four when he first went for treatment at the hospital, told of how he witnessed serious issues there as recently as November.
He said: ‘There has been a dripping roof for a year now in the children’s atrium, it started off as one yellow splash bucket.
‘Until a few weeks ago there was 18 of them. So when it started raining they just kept on adding splash buckets. And then they cordoned it all off.
‘He needs a wheelchair after treatment, and we actually slipped going past it.’
Dr Christine Peters, one of the whistleblowers who still works at the hospital as a full-time employee of the scandal hit health board, has claimed nothing has changed.
Ms Watts told the inquiry: ‘She has not seen evidence of the necessary changes having taken place. Her consistent and repeated experience up until the present date is that the culture has not changed, learning has not been implemented, and there remains a default assumption that the environment cannot be the cause of infections.’
The Scottish Daily Mail approached Jane Grant former Chief Executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for her reaction to the criticisms levelled at the leadership of the hospital during her tenure but she declined to comment.
A man who answered the door of her home said she was not willing to speak to the Mail’s reporter and instead asked that any inquiries be put through the health board.
An NHS Glasgow and Greater Clyde spokesman yesterday offered its ‘sincere and unreserved apology to the patients and families affected’.
He added: ‘In our closing statements we have acknowledged issues with past culture and communication, and we are committed to learn and continue to improve our approach.
‘We have outlined the significant improvements undertaken as an organisation during this time to improve governance and oversight, and that issues are being addressed both proactively and reactively, and in a timely manner.
‘We encourage any employee to get in touch directly to discuss concerns they may have to allow us to address directly.
‘It would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this time while the inquiry is ongoing.’
