Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced more action is being taken to step up infection control at a crisis-hit hospital complex.
She said “significant additional steps” were needed to restore trust in the management of the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, which is part of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus.
Ms Freeman revealed Professor Marion Bain, the former medical director of NHS National Services Scotland, is to take over responsibility for infection prevention and control at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
READ MORE: 'Former health chiefs owe families an apology instead of insulting their intelligence'
The Health Secretary told MSPs an expert assessment of infection prevention and control in the clinical environment will also be carried out.
She added that “action should have been taken” to deal with problems before patients moved into parts of the £840 million hospital complex.
Giving a statement to Holyrood after meeting the full board of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Ms Freeman said bosses had been left in “no doubt how seriously the Government takes these issues” and of the “actions I require from them to restore and rebuild confidence”.
Concerns about the water supply at the hospital have been raised after it emerged 10-year-old cancer patient Milly Main died after contracting an infection in August 2017.
Documents seen by Labour MSP Anas Sarwar reportedly show NHS Estates has commissioned three separate independent reports into the water supply at the QEUH, including one in April 2015.
Ms Freeman confirmed those reports – produced for the health board by contractor DMA Canyon – had not been shared with the Scottish Government at the time
Mr Sarwar said that was “simply unforgivable” from the health board.
He added: “The water supply was deemed not safe and high risk. In those circumstances that hospital should never have been allowed to open.”
Mr Sarwar called on Ms Freeman to launch an urgent investigation into how that was allowed to happen “and make sure that heads roll”.
The Glasgow MSP added: “Patients, parents and the public have lost faith in the leadership of the health board.
“Cabinet Secretary, please, those people must be moved aside to allow a genuinely independent investigation to happen.”
Ms Freeman said it was “entirely unacceptable” that the reports had not been shared with the Scottish Government.
She added: “When one looks at those reports the action should have been taken, in my opinion, before patients and others moved into particular areas of that hospital.”
Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said a lack of confidence in Ms Freeman meant it was time for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to appoint a new health secretary
“The problem is that families have lost confidence in Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS and this SNP Government,” he said.
“And sadly nothing in this statement today suggests the Government is actually in control of this crisis at the hospital.”
The Conservative MSP added: “The families have lost confidence in her as Health Secretary, and so have NHS staff, and who can blame them?
READ MORE: Ovarian cancer drug has given me extension to life I might not have had, says survivor
“We all know where the buck stops and it’s time Nicola Sturgeon put Jeane Freeman in special measures and appointed a new health secretary.”
Last month, Ms Freeman escalated the Government’s level of involvement in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, appointing a board to oversee its work.
A public inquiry has also been announced to examine issues at the site of the two hospitals.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel