Hospital inquiry families call for health board bosses to ‘face a reckoning’

Families of patients treated at Scotland’s superhospital which is at the centre of infection concerns are calling for health board bosses to “face a reckoning” amid claims they were “lied to”, “demeaned and smeared”.

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry has been examining the design and construction of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus in Glasgow.

In closing submissions, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said “pressure was applied” to open the hospital on time and on budget in 2015, and it is now clear it “opened too early” and “was not ready”.

The health board also admitted, on the balance of probabilities, there was a “causal connection between some infections suffered by patients and the hospital environment, in particular the water system”.

However, it added that there was “no definite link between infections and the water system”.

NHSGGC has offered a “sincere and unreserved apology” to the patients and families affected, and said the QEUH and Royal Hospital for Children (RHC) – which are on the same campus – are “safe today”.

‘Deceit and conniving cowardice’

Thompsons Solicitors Scotland represents the majority of the affected families and issued a statement on their behalf.

It read: “We were all lied to by GGCH [Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board]. We were all disbelieved by GGCH.

“We were all demeaned and smeared by GGCH. We have all had our families devastated and our lives traumatised by GGCH.”

It added: “We cannot overstate the level of deceit and conniving cowardice displayed by GGCH during the whole unfolding of this awful scandal.”

The families urged political leaders to “act now” as they paid tribute to the “brave and decent” clinicians and staff who tried to speak out but were reportedly “silenced” by the health board.

The statement added: “Those past and present who have presided over this despicable incompetence and cover-up must now be held to account.

“The leadership of GGCH past and present must now face a reckoning.”

‘The hospitals are safe today’

NHSGGC said ensuring the safe care of patients is a “key priority at all times”.

The health board added: “Comprehensive steps have been taken to address past physical defects in the building and a significant programme of maintenance and monitoring is in place.

“Our staff are committed to providing safe, high-quality care. It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment further at this time while the inquiry is ongoing.”

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The inquiry – which is also looking at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences (RHCYP/DCN) in Edinburgh – was launched in the wake of deaths linked to infections, including that of 10-year-old Milly Main.

Milly died in 2017 after contracting an infection within the RHC’s cancer ward.

Scottish Labour are calling for the release of all documents relating to the opening of the QEUH, with the Scottish Conservatives additionally pushing for Nicola Sturgeon to make a personal statement to Holyrood on the issue.

Ms Sturgeon was health secretary when the hospital was commissioned and first minister when it opened.

The inquiry will hear closing statements from the families later on Thursday, with First Minister John Swinney also expected to be questioned during FMQs.

Mr Swinney said a “huge amount of documentation” had been given to the inquiry.

He added: “I think the approach that we have taken has been an open approach, designed to provide the inquiry with all the information that it required for its terms of reference to be addressed.

“And we obviously await with interest the conclusions of Lord Brodie in this inquiry so that we can identify the issues that need to be addressed and the lessons that need to be learned.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “It is because we have instigated a public inquiry that, I believe, we are getting to the truth.

“We have provided all relevant evidence to the inquiry, relating to the whole of its terms of reference. That is still being considered by the inquiry and so it is important that we allow it the space to consider its final conclusions.

“I will not comment further until the inquiry publishes its findings.”