BBCHouseholds on the centre of a public inquiry into Scotland’s largest hospital campus say they nonetheless have issues over the security of the buildings.
Kinfolk have been sickened by the proof on the inquiry and say they haven’t been reassured the issues have been solved.
They need an interim report back to be revealed on whether or not the Queen Elizabeth College Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Kids in Glasgow at present meet security requirements.
NHS Larger Glasgow and Clyde says it will possibly “present absolute assurance” to sufferers, households, employees and the general public that the hospitals are secure.
The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry says that its chairman, Lord Brodie, is specializing in producing his closing report in order that it may be revealed as shortly as doable.
The inquiry was arrange in 2020 after the deaths of quite a lot of sufferers who contracted uncommon infections whereas being handled on the hospital campus.
It’s analyzing whether or not points with the water and air flow programs had an influence on affected person security.
The most recent part of the inquiry, which concluded this month, heard from senior managers, estates employees, whistleblowers, unbiased specialists and affected households.
Households say the proof over the previous 12 weeks has shocked them and made them extra offended. The inquiry heard that:
- Workers acquired a report in 2015, on the time the hospital opened, which indicated that the water provide was at a excessive threat of an infection
- Head of estates Ian Powrie, who commissioned the obligatory report, admitted he “dropped the ball” and had not learn the doc till three years later.
- The hospital’s second in cost, Dr Jennifer Armstrong, admitted being “bowled over” that the hospital had “not been built right” – however didn’t imagine there was proof the issues with the constructing induced the weird infections.
- Dr Christine Peters, a senior microbiologist and former an infection management physician who grew to become a whistleblower, mentioned she nonetheless had ongoing concerns about the building and that there was a “major problem with tradition which doesn’t worth honesty”.
- The chairman of an unbiased investigation concluded there was a probable hyperlink between some infections in youngster most cancers sufferers and the contaminated water provide. However Prof Mike Stevens mentioned he felt the well being board’s chief govt had tried to “flip the screw” on him to change the findings of his assessment.
Affected households informed BBC Scotland Information that three years on from giving their proof to the inquiry, that they had heard nothing to reassure them the issues on the hospitals had been totally addressed.
In addition they claimed that senior executives had been extra involved with defending the repute of the hospital than affected person security.
Mark Bisset, from Peebles, nonetheless takes his 12-year-old daughter Charly to the Royal Hospital for Kids for routine appointments.
She was identified with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2019 on the age of seven and underwent a stem cell transplant within the grownup hospital as a result of the kid most cancers wards had been closed after a collection of an infection outbreaks.
Charly additionally contracted quite a lot of infections throughout her five-month inpatient keep, which he believes might have come from the constructing.
“4 occasions our different youngsters needed to are available and say goodbye to their sister,” mentioned Mr Bisset.
Charly is now most cancers free however nonetheless requires help for ongoing well being points.
Mr Bisset says the household are nonetheless “petrified” each time they go to the hospital.
“You get the concern. I’ve requested for her care to be moved to Edinburgh as a result of I simply don’t belief that hospital any longer, I don’t really feel it’s secure,” he mentioned.
He mentioned listening to the proof on the inquiry had been onerous, however that “you want the reality to return out”.
Like different households we now have spoken to, Mark says he doesn’t belief senior figures on the well being board – and that he has by no means been given assurances that the hospital is now secure.
“They’re denying there’s a hyperlink between the infections and the hospital,” he mentioned.
“We’ve heard all this proof the place they deny there’s a hyperlink, however if you return there are nonetheless filters on the faucets.
“If there wasn’t an issue then why do they want filters on the faucets?”
Maureen Dynes’ husband Tony, 63, died in 2021, after most cancers therapy on the Queen Elizabeth College Hospital.
Maureen, from East Kilbride, solely realized her husband had contracted two infections, stenotrophomonas and aspergillus, after requesting his medical data.
She mentioned a few of the info popping out from the inquiry made her “really feel sick” and that it was “disgusting” the well being board might have recognized in regards to the issues.
“There’s a clear lack of transparency,” she mentioned.
“If there was honesty and transparency in regards to the state of the constructing it could allay a few of the fears for folks getting in.”
Whereas work has been finished on the water and air flow within the youngsters’s wards, she was not conscious of any modifications to the ward the place Tony was handled.
“It’s the one bone marrow transplant ward in Scotland, it is the place had been are informed is the most secure place to go – however my expertise is it isn’t as secure appropriately,” she added.
Louise Slorance’s husband Andrew died from Covid whereas being handled for most cancers on the hospital in 2020 and in addition examined optimistic for aspergillus.
She nonetheless thinks there’s a failure of governance and efficient administration on the hospitals, and that an interim report is “very important” because of what she believes is “an ongoing affected person security threat”.
Patrick McGuire – a companion with Thompsons Solicitors, which represents many households on the inquiry – mentioned the proof on the inquiry made it “very clear” that the hospital was “unsafe for sufferers and riddled with administration failures from the start”.
He mentioned: “We nonetheless don’t know if the hospital is now secure and that is of giant concern to my purchasers.
“That is why it’s very important that the inquiry contemplate publishing an interim report on the present ranges of security and what nonetheless needs to be finished to make sure the welfare of sufferers.”
PA MediaNonetheless, a spokesperson for the inquiry mentioned: “In an effort to get to that closing report as shortly as doable, Lord Brodie’s method is to concentrate on the ultimate report.”
The inquiry is because of hear additional proof subsequent April earlier than closing hearings in August 2025.
In a press release, NHS Larger Glasgow and Clyde mentioned: “We will present absolute assurance to all of our sufferers, households, employees and the general public that our hospitals are secure.
“That is clearly evidenced by publicly out there indicators of security collected and monitored at a neighborhood and nationwide stage.
“Obligatory surveillance of healthcare related infections demonstrates NHSGGC constantly performs higher than many different boards throughout Scotland and mortality charges on the QEUH campus are in step with, and at occasions decrease than, the Scottish common.”
The well being board mentioned it could proceed to help the inquiry to totally set up the info.
“We lengthen our sympathies to any households who’ve misplaced family members in our care and all these affected in the course of the inquiry,” it added.
