MINISTERS have launched a probe into the design and construction of Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after a child died following an infection linked to pigeon droppings.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the review would examine all aspects of the flagship facility’s structure and maintenance amid widespread concern the building is “less than satisfactory”.

It came as she confirmed a child died at the end of last year as a result of an infection caused by the fungus Cryptococcus, which is found in pigeon droppings.

Another patient was also diagnosed with the rare condition in November, but Ms Freeman said Cryptococcus was “not a contributing factor in their death” the following month.

Meanwhile, officials are currently investigating a separate fungal infection in two other patients, both of whom are being treated. Full details of this are not yet known.

Ms Freeman said the Glasgow hospital had been hit by a number of issues around water hygiene, external cladding, insulation systems and glazing failures.

She said: “I have agreed a review, with external expert advice, that will look at the design of the building, the commissioning of the work, the construction of the building, the handover of the building, and the maintenance of the building, in order to ensure we identify where issues were raised which should have been addressed, and where maintenance programmes now should perhaps be more robust and more frequent or whatever recommendation will come from that review."

She added: “It is right that we consider whether or not, in its totality, the fabric of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is as fit for purpose as we require it.

"And that if there are lessons from that, that we take those and apply those across the rest of our health system in Scotland, in particular where we have the commissioning of new builds.”

The Health Secretary was addressing MSPs following outcry over the recent infection cases. 

It came after it emerged complaints about roosting pigeons were raised with hospital bosses two years ago, while one family claimed they wrote to ministers flagging up fears nine months ago.

Ms Freeman said the Scottish Government had “no record” of this letter, while the concerns raised previously were “very different” to the recent incident and were dealt with at the time.

She said the root of the Cryptococcus infection had been traced to a plant room on the roof of the building, where “invisible to the naked eye, was a very, very small break in the wall”.

She added: “And in that small break, pigeons had entered the plant room and excrement was found there.

“That was found by smoke detection, because as I say, [it was] invisible to the naked eye.”

She said officials were still investigating how the bacteria then entered the closed ventilation system.

Ms Freeman said the identification of the two cases had acted as a trigger for additional control measures.

And she said she was confident the health board had taken all the steps it could “to ensure and maintain patient safety”.

However, she confirmed a review will also be undertaken by the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate.

Ms Freeman said: “I know I speak for the whole chamber when I say for both families, our thoughts and sympathies go to them.”

Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said people would find it “absolutely extraordinary” that a patient had died in the country’s flagship hospital as a result of pigeon droppings.

She said: “Jeane Freeman this afternoon confirmed that child sadly died as a result of infections at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and that alone is cause enough for a serious review of maintenance.

“Questions remain, however, why successive health secretaries allowed problems at the hospital to build up before commissioning this review.

“Problems at the hospital were reported as far back as February 2016, when sewage leaks saw operations cancelled. In December 2017, cladding had to be removed from the hospital due to similarities it shared to the material used on Grenfell tower.

“In August 2018, a glass panel crashed ten floors from the hospital, and last month we saw reports of bacteria in the water supply at the cancer ward at the children’s hospital on the campus.

“That is a laundry list of problems which should have set alarm bells ringing at any hospital, never mind Scotland’s flagship hospital.

"The review is overdue – it now must deliver honest answers about the mistakes that have been made.”

The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was built for the Scottish Government at a cost of some £842 million and opened at the end of April 2015.