Hannah Rodger, Sunday Mail chief reporter, revealed today that three more patients contracted pigeon poo fungus and pest control teams were called frequently to deal with vermin
More sickening images which reveal the level of filth at the controversial Queen Elizabeth University Hospital show areas caked in pigeon droppings, infestations of insects and rotting cleaning sponges dumped in a water tank.
The campus has been plagued with infections scandals since it opened in 2015 and is at the centre of a judge-led public inquiry where the scale of dirt emerged into the public domain for the first time.
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 environmental credentials took precedence over safety when the facility was built.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, pictured with the mother of ten-year-old Milly Main, who died in the hospital, 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.”
In November The Sunday Mail revealed that the Health Board was named as a suspect in a corporate homicide probe into four deaths at QEUH, which is still ongoing. That could see senior staff being prosecuted and/or the health board fined if found guilty.
Read Democrat editor Bill Heaney’s Notebook on this matter.
Poor quality building that has cost lives. That sadly is the sad fact of infrastructure procurement.
All about corporate profit and reduced safety standards this situation is a direct consequence arising from initially Thatcher but later Blair and Brown’s embrace of PFI, design and construct, industry self certification of standards.
And look what it has delivered. The problems on the Queen Elizabeth hospital are but a microcosim of a much bigger picture.
Schools with falling down walls, Grenfell clad building that include not just apartment blocks but schools and hospitals. Indeed, in Scotland there are over 300 buildings – tower block, schools and the like that still have defective unsafe cladding over seven years on from Grenfell.
Money talks, and talks big. The amount of public money being shelled out on outrageously expensive PFI financed cheap John building is asronomical. Schools, hospitals, public buildings, roads, the list is incredible.
But do the punters care? I truly don’t think they do. Paying top dollar for bottom dollar procurement seems to be their birthright.
And then you look at the astronomical corporate profits made in the gas and electricity sectors. With of course huge financial machinations going on there. And the punters losing out there too.
Jeepers, even Lady Michelle Mone can pick up a £60 million up for arranging £100m of dodgy plastic PPE gowns. And the punter pays while she sails around in her new multi million pound yacht.
But do the punters care? I truly don’t think they do.
Well if they did they would do something about it, well wouldn’t they?
And now the talk is of means testing old age pensions, reintroduction of prescription tax, cutting of elderly heating allowance, reduction in civic services, proposals to introduce NHS charges for hospital admissions.
Ah well, somebody has to pay for the corporate prlofits being siphonef off from the hapless masses.
Played like poor downtrodden farm animals, one does wonder when, and I say this without wishing to cause offence, the worms will turn and take back control.