Investigation launched into fraud allegations at Scotland’s super hospital

BBC Scotland News is reporting that an investigation – this time into allegations of fraud at Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board’s hospital – has been launched by the police.

The NHS Counter Fraud Authority and Police Scotland are investigating the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Children’s  corporate estate and facilities department, which provides “essential support services that keeps hospitals running”.

Both hospitals take patients from West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute.

The Scottish Sun reported, external that computers and other electronic devices were removed from the hospital last week and that the fraud team have spoken to managers as part of the probe.

The investigation is unconnected to the ongoing public inquiry into the construction of the hospital, which includes the Royal Children’s Hospital, which was established after a number of patient deaths there.

Head of NHS counter fraud services, Gordon Young, told BBC Scotland News: “We’re unable to comment due to the ongoing criminal investigation being led by our counter fraud services team and supported by Police Scotland.”

He confirmed it was “in no way connected to” the ongoing inquiry into the hospital’s construction.

The QEUH campus, which is estimated to have cost more than £800 million and counting, was hailed as a world-leading facility when it opened.

However, a series of infection outbreaks and concerns around the water and ventilation systems emerged after it opened in 2015 and a number of patients died, including 10-year-old cancer patient Milly Main.

The inquiry heard earlier this week that some NHS Scotland officials believed the hospital was “not built right” when first constructed.

A corporate homicide investigation into the deaths of four patients at the QEUH is also ongoing.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board said it could not comment on ongoing investigations but “can confirm these are in no way linked to the hospital’s water supply or the wider hospital inquiry”.