NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GCC) will be placed under increased scrutiny after an infections scandal at a flagship hospital campus.

The entire health board has now been put at stage four of the NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework.

In November, the board was placed at stage four over ongoing issues relating to infection prevention, management and control at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) and the Royal Hospital for Children.

But a decision has now been taken to place the full board at that stage.

READ MORE: Mother of tragic Milly Main demands fatal accident inquiry into her death at Glasgow super hospital

The health board has been dealing with a number of scandals around the QEUH after a series of infections and death of patients.

Concerns about the water supply on the campus were raised after it emerged 10-year-old cancer patient Milly Main died at the children’s hospital on the site after contracting an infection in August 2017.

Her parents have called for a fatal accident inquiry into her death.

A five-stage scale is used in Scotland to show the level of oversight for stricken health boards.

A stage four ranking is given to a board where there are “significant risks to delivery, quality, financial performance or safety” with “senior level external support required”.

Principal areas of support concentrating on scheduled care, unscheduled care, primary care out of hours, finance and culture and leadership, will all be assessed as part of the latest escalation.

To facilitate support for the board, NHS Lanarkshire chief executive Calum Campbell has been appointed as a turnaround director.

Jane Grant, NHS GGC chief executive, said: “Our board and senior leadership team are entirely focused on delivering safe, person-centred care for the people of Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

“We are confident that we will be able to deliver and sustain an improved performance with the additional support announced by the Cabinet Secretary today.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with Calum Campbell to deliver improvements in scheduled care, unscheduled care, out of hours, finance and culture and leadership.”

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the move would provide an increased level of scrutiny and intervention at the board.

“All of us, rightly, have high expectations of our NHS and I’m focused on improving performance and delivery across the system in order to provide the best care possible for the people of Scotland,” she said.

“In order to provide additional direction and support to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde I have taken the decision to escalate the board as a whole to stage four of the Performance Escalation Framework.

“Calum Campbell as turnaround director will provide an increased level of scrutiny and intervention.”

As well as the action taken for the board in Glasgow, a number of senior management changes were also made at NHS Highland and NHS Orkney to increase capacity.

Iain Stewart, chief executive of NHS Highland, will take up an executive role within NHS Orkney ahead of taking on the role of chief executive after the phased retirement of current chief executive Gerry O’Brien.

Paul Hawkins, chief executive of NHS Fife, will be seconded to NHS Highland as interim chief executive.

Ms Freeman said the changes would help “enhance leadership capacity” and better align skills and experience across NHS Scotland.

“In his role as Chief Executive of NHS Highland Iain Stewart has established a culture programme for NHS Highland and worked to bring significant stability to the health board,” she said.

“This crucial work will now be taken forward by Paul Hawkins who brings considerable skill and experience as an established NHS chief executive.

“I am confident he will successfully take forward the next phase of the board’s culture programme.”

Anas Sarwar, Labour MSP for Glasgow, said: “This is a step in the right direction and it’s encouraging that Jeane Freeman has recognised the scale of the crisis at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

“But the health board itself remains in complete denial of its catastrophic failings.

“It simply isn’t tenable for those in charge to remain in post. They have lost the trust of patients, families and the public.

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“At the heart of the scandals are bereaved parents and loved ones who have been let down by senior managers at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and they deserve justice.”

Calling for Ms Freeman to resign, Scottish Conservative MSP Miles Briggs said: “Ms Freeman’s desperate attempt to reshuffle her way out of an NHS crisis shows just how out of ideas she is.

“Ms Freeman demonstrated a profound lack of judgment when she kept details of a deceased child secret, she continues to demonstrate that same lack of judgment if this is the best she can do.

“She should now resign and let someone else try to improve our NHS for the benefit of patients and the extremely hard-working NHS staff doing their best in this broken system.”