by Bill Heaney
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar clashed with First Minister John Swinney yet again in the Scottish Parliament this week over patient deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, which covers West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute.
In a stormy exchange, Mr Sarwar claimed that First Minister John Swinney had “shamefully turned his back on families impacted by the scandal.”
He said: “John Swinney said that he could not set up an independent expert panel to answer the families’ questions because there was a public inquiry.
“That was not the first time that he had misled the Parliament and hidden behind the inquiry when it suited him. He knows that the inquiry is not looking at individual cases and, therefore, will not give those families the answers that they deserve.
“What the First Minister said last week is just not true. Will he now accept that he was wrong, and will he commit to setting up that independent expert panel?”
Mr Swinney, pictured left, replied: “The first thing that I want to say to Mr Sarwar is that I offered no disrespect to families last week. It is my duty to answer questions, and I did that.
“What I said to Mr Sarwar last week is that I would have to consider the question of looking at individual cases. I did not, at any stage, rule it out. Mr Sarwar has, once again, misrepresented me in the chamber, and it is up to me to correct him for that purpose.”
He aadded: “In 2020, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport commissioned a case note review, which was undertaken by a panel of independent experts, so some of that work has already been undertaken.
“The review was led by Professor Mike Stephens and it looked at 118 episodes of bacterial infection in 85 children who received treatment for blood disease, cancer or related conditions at the Royal Hospital for Children. It published its findings in 2021.
“That exercise has been done on a large number of cases. If more cases are to be examined, I will consider that question. However, I have to be mindful of the fact that a public inquiry is now under way to look at all these questions. I reiterate to Mr Sarwar that at no stage last week did I rule out that possibility.”
“The First Minister does not want to hear it from me, but perhaps he will listen to the words of the grieving widow Louise Slorance, pictured right with her husband Andrew, who died in the hospital:
“It beggars belief that as this incident was ongoing. the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health were publicly proclaiming the hospital was safe.
“As the leading expert states Ward 4B is not safe and nobody should be saying it is … patients like Andrew remain at risk today simply because those responsible prioritise reputation over patient safety.”
“Shame on each and every single one of you. Public safety and patient reassurance are urgent. They require honesty and transparency. This Parliament voted three weeks ago for all those documents to be published, and they have not been. Will the First Minister stop hiding behind process and do it right now?
“Mr Sarwar asked me for transparency on these issues, and I want to be crystal clear with Parliament. The Government received a hospital infection incident assessment tool—HIIAT—amber alert on Thursday 26 February regarding ward 4B, which cares for bone marrow transplant patients. This morning, the Government was advised that that HIIAT alert was upgraded to red.
“There is only one factor that has made the difference between the amber alert and the red alert, and that is the upgrading of one aspect of the HIIAT to acknowledge the heightened public anxiety around the matter. It is not because of any increased risk of harm to patients.
“It is important for me to put on the record the fundamental clinical consensus that the wards in question are safe. I reiterate the view that I consider the hospital, and its component parts, to be safe.
“Where issues are identified openly and transparently, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is addressing those issues and will be required by the Government to do exactly that.
“The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has been engaging with the health board about exactly that, and that is what I expect the health board to do in the period to come.”
Labour leader Anas Sarwar pictured campaigning for justice with Milly Main’s grieving mother Kimberley Darroch.
“Every step of the way, this Scottish National Party Government has attempted to misinform, deflect and deny. Progress has only ever been made when the Government has been backed into a corner and, even now, it hides behind process rather than just telling the truth.
“Let us look at what has been established in the past few weeks. We now know that political pressure was applied to open a hospital before it was ready and safe, and that people died as a result. Shona Robison was the health secretary at the time and should perhaps reflect on her own decisions and on what happened.
“We know that repeated warnings about infections were ignored and that staff were bullied and attempts made to silence them. We know that grieving families were offered bribes in exchange for their silence and that, despite all that, even now, the truth is being denied and the hospital has not been validated.
“Families do not trust John Swinney and he will not release the papers that this Parliament has demanded. Why is he incapable of doing the right thing by families when it comes to that hospital?”
“On the issue of releasing papers, my understanding is that the papers that were considered by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have been made publicly available, which addresses the question that Mr Sarwar puts to me.
“If he believes that any documents have not been released when the Government committed to doing so, he should advise me as to what those documents are, because it is my understanding that those documents have been put in the public domain.
“We have established an oversight group that involves representatives of families and is chaired by the chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and by Sir Lewis Ritchie, an eminent clinician, to ensure that there is external interrogation of the issues at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
“On the question of openness, I have today put on record the most recent information available to me. I could not be any more open with Parliament on the question, based on the information that is available to me.
“I add that the Government has established a public inquiry that will consider all those issues and that we await the findings of Lord Brodie, pictured left.
“I say to Anas Sarwar at this particular moment that the Government recognises the deep concern of families. That is being addressed by the steps that we are taking, and that will continue to be the position of my Government.”