Investigative journalist Hannah Rodger, chief reporter at the Sunday Mail, has come up with yet another exclusive story about the long-running scandal of dirt and deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Children, both of which take patients from West Dunbartonshire.Documents published by the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry looking into the QEUH’s construction reveal how:
* THREE more patients contracted infections from bird droppings but health chiefs dismissed the cases and claimed they’re not linked to the hospital’s pigeon problem
* ROTTING sponges and debris were found inside water tanks servicing the hospital and
* PRIORITISED environmental credentials over safety when the facility was built.
Anas Sarwar, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, said: “These images are absolutely revolting and would be shameful anywhere but to see they are of the conditions at Scotland’s flagship hospital is even more damning.
“Every revelation about QEUH adds up to a deeply disturbing picture yet the Health Board leadership has continually attempted to frustrate the process to shed light on this scandal.
“Patients should be able to enter a hospital knowing they are entering a hygienic environment where they have the best chance of recovery, not somewhere plagued with flies, pigeons and other vermin.”
The inquiry, chaired by Lord Philip Brodie, pictured left, is investigating how patients, mainly children with cancer, contracted rare bugs while being treated. Some died with their loved ones believing their infections were linked to the building.
The new reports reveal the scale of the problem with birds and insects as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s estates team tried to grapple with the pests.
Documents lay bare the hundreds of callouts to the facility while images show the mounds of bird faeces building up both inside and outside the hospital within months of it opening.
In March 2015 – four months before the QEUH officially opened – pest control firm GP Environmental advised hospital chiefs they’d need to install bird repellent spikes to stop pigeons roosting at the X-ray department.
THE FULL EXCLUSIVE STORY BY HANNAH RODGER IS IN THE SUNDAY MAIL
Privatisation, more privatisation that’s the answer.
And with new proposals by the new government in Westminster to increase the participation of the private sector, and to facilitate priority NHS service for those prepared to pay a fee for early operations, we can see how things are going to get better.
In the US people are free to buy as much healthcare as they want. That some don’t have the money is a small but critically important issue for some. Priority paid for service here would reinforce that.
The QE University Hospital was a fantastic use of public money for public health.
Yes there have been some problems with the hospital build quality. These are currently the subject of Court of Session litigation between the Health Board and the builders.
Defective construction has been with us since man started building things. But here, over the last thirty years building standards have declined. Poor quality schools with collapsing walls, poor quality unsafe wall cladding exemplified by Grenfell and the huge number of building here that had to be rectified, defects in new hospitals such as the Queen Elizabeth, quality is now a huge issue – as is a cost.
But there is a reason for this and it goes back to Mrs Thatcher and then the Blair and Brown years.
PFI was introduced, deregulation and self certification, developer design and construct, developer-led funding of public (?) assets, are all changes that have adversely impacted public infrastructure procurement.
And whilst the parties sue each other when they can afford it, or if there is a party still in existence to sue, the loser is the poor old common five eight who pays top prices for poor quality.
That is neo liberal corporate capitalism to which we are now wedded. And then we wonder how standards are going down.
But hey, do the punters really and truly care. They voted for this and they’ve got what they voted for.