A public inquiry was ordered after a number of deaths and high levels of infection at the Queen Elizabeth University and Royal Children’s Hospitals.
by Bill Heaney
Scottish government ministers did not know about problems with the water and ventilation systems at the country’s largest hospital before it opened, according to a new document published by the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry.
The paper, written by the inquiry’s lawyers, says any political pressure to open the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow on time in 2015 was made “in ignorance of both issues”.
The clarification was issued after questions were raised by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar over the role of politicians in the decision-making process.
First Minister John Swinney has previously denied there was pressure from the government to rush the opening of the hospital.
The public inquiry was ordered in 2019 after a number of deaths and high levels of infection at the QEUH campus prompted concerns about patient safety.
In particular, attention focused on the Royal Hospital for Children where immune-compromised young people were being treated for blood disorders and cancer.
Among the patients who died was 10-year-old Milly Main, who acquired an infection while in remission for leukaemia, and 84 children were infected.
The inquiry, which is looking at the design, build, commissioning and maintenance of the hospital and their impact on patient safety, has heard from 186 witnesses and will produce its findings later.
The newly released document also addresses questions over the hospital’s current infection risk, including where water and ventilation systems do not meet national guidance and are subject to sufficient risk assessment.
It says a recent report did not demonstrate enough progress on the part of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) in accepting its past failures, properly reporting infection and regaining public trust.
‘Lack of oversight’
The document released by Fred Mackintosh KC and Craig Connal KC says: “It was not until 2018/2019 that the Scottish government first understood that NHSGCC had decided to build this flagship hospital not in compliance with Scottish government guidance.
“The Scottish government did not know about the problems with the water system until 2018, but then neither did the senior management and board of NHSGCC due to failures to provide sufficient resources and lack of oversight by those responsible for the water system.”
In January, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar produced a set of government meeting notes from 2019 and 2020, in which officials and health board colleagues looked back on the hospital’s opening.
It stated that “political pressure” was being felt by the health board, and that “no consideration was given to delaying the opening of the hospital despite the issues being faced with completion and operation”.
Sarwar said this was “damning” evidence, showing “in black and white” that there had been political pressure.
First Minister John Swinney called for people to wait for the full findings of the inquiry to be published by Lord Brodie, pictured right.
The latest inquiry document says any pressure from the Scottish government to open the hospital on time and on budget was not unusual, but that ministers were not aware of the full facts.
It adds: “The Scottish government systems to manage the procurement of this hospital it paid for were inadequate for the task of ensuring that it was built to technical standards the public and Scottish government as funder should have expected.”
Timeline of the hospitals controversy
The document goes on to say patients and the public “will rightly want to know” that the ventilator systems of the QEUH comply with the relevant Scottish government guidance.
“Where they do not, there must be validation that systems meet their design specification and that any derogation has been subject to risk assessment.
“This has yet to happen.”
It adds: “Even once these first two requirements are met, it is necessary to be confident that the Infection Prevention and Control team in NHSGCC is alive to risks to patient safety from the hospital environment.
“Such confidence can only be earned by an IPC management team that is open about its failures in the past, demonstrates a willingness to learn, and change.”
‘Serious failure’
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie, right, said the clarification document highlighted “SNP ministers’ failure to protect patients and safeguard public money”.
She added: “While this note is welcome, it is no substitute for the examination under oath that should have been carried out as part of this inquiry.
“After all the spin, this makes clear there was a serious failure of government oversight at the heart of this scandal and the SNP must now stop lying about their role in it.”
Last week, NHSGCC announced it plans to rebuild a cancer ward at QEUH after issues with mould and water problems.
The health board said the proposal was “necessary” after ongoing defects disrupted the running of the adult bone marrow transplant unit.
Health Secretary Neil Gray said the Scottish government would work with the health board on the plans.
Meanwhile, a former chief nursing officer criticised over reported comments about the Glasgow hospitals infection scandal has quit her role as chairwoman of the Scottish Police Authority.
Fiona McQueen, pictured above, is said to have questioned why the local health board did not offer bereaved families £50,000, reportedly noting it would cover a holiday to Disneyland, instead of denying that hospital safety defects had caused harm.
McQueen was criticised by relatives of people who died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus, with her alleged comments described as “shameful” at Holyrood.
She previously said she did “not recall” making the comment and insisted her priority had been patient safety.
Separately, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Services is investigating seven deaths for potential links to the hospital environment after it opened in 2015.
McQueen, who has been awarded a CBE for services to the NHS, retired as chief nursing officer in 2021 before taking up her role with the SPA, a public body that oversees policing.
She is also vice-chairwoman of Scotland’s drugs deaths taskforce and was appointed SPA chairwoman by the government in February last year.
McQueen is alleged to have made the Disneyland comment at a meeting in December 2019.
Separately, in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the parents of Sophia Smith alleged McQueen offered them £20,000 and a holiday during a 2019 phone call, after their baby daughter died at the QEUH campus in 2017.
The Ya-Boo of political cat calling goes on. Noise over substance it is a sad reflection of the standards of the paid politicos who inhabit our system.
It goes without saying that there were serious deficiencies in the new QE Hospital. But the problem is very much wider than that.
Poor quality school buildings being one example. Falling down walls requiring checks across hundreds of schools across Scotland. Defective cladding. The new primary school at Balloch is a classic example of that where over 30% of the external wall panels are covered over with panels screwed onto the underlying cracked and broken wall. You don’t hear any Ya Boo about that. It’s a wee secret and utter disgrace. A new school covered over with wall patches!
Or what of our colleges. Anniesland college was refurbished around ten years ago. However around two years ago the college had in an emergency to be closed with all students dispersed to either study at home or be displaced to other colleges for a period of over six weeks. And the reason being the new wall system and windows were at risk of collapsing. We didn’t hear too much about that.
Or the use of unsafe fire risk cladding. We all know about the tragedy of Grenfell but how well do we know about tragedy here. Hundreds of buildings at risk in Bonnie Scotland. The new flats along the river Clyde where the Granary building once stood are testimony to that. Prior to millions of pounds worth of cladding replacement, folks in these expensive apartments could not get home insurance, could not sell their flats and had to pay for fire watch security round the clock.
Or the fairly recent SQH15 thermal upgrade of social houses across WDC where upgrade work had to be stopped due to concerns about the fire safety suitability of the cladding being used. Maybe a post Grenfell induced safety moment but fire safety is not rocket science, or shouldn’t be, but it’s just another example of poor building standards.
Or what of the new flats in Edinburgh’s Bonnington Bond where due to the close configuration of the apartment blocks, a fire that started in one apartment and then spread, could not be accessed by fire appliances. How did that happen. Who designed that. Who passed it off. And how did the fire spread from one apartment unit to other units in the block.
An MSP actually had one of these apartments. But again how did it happen and with personal experience what has he done to change things.
Clearly poor quality, unsafe building, is a question much wider than the high profile political QE hospital. Building tomorrow’s slums today, and for big bucks too, might be a not inappropriate tag line. But it’s something our political classes would do well to address. It’s a big issue, and especially so in these cash strapped times.
Design and build, industry self certification, poor to non existent regulation by the authorities, these are strategic issues that should be comprehensively looked at and addressed. Why is poor build happening. what can be done to stop it.
But it’s election time and so it’s selective noise time. And they are all guilty of it.
Or is it that money, big money talks, whilst the mice play.
Nuff said!