Scottish hospitals inquiry families say safety fears remain

Families at the centre of a public inquiry into Scotland’s biggest hospital campus say they still have concerns over the safety of the buildings.

Relatives have been sickened by the evidence at the inquiry and say they have not been reassured the problems have been solved.

They want an interim report to be published on whether the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow currently meet safety standards.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde says it can “provide absolute assurance” to patients, families, staff and the public that the hospitals are safe.

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry says that its chairman, Lord Brodie, is focusing on producing his final report so that it can be published as quickly as possible.

The inquiry was set up in 2020 after the deaths of a number of patients who contracted unusual infections while being treated at the hospital campus.

It is examining whether issues with the water and ventilation systems had an impact on patient safety.

The latest phase of the inquiry, which concluded this month, heard from senior managers, estates staff, whistleblowers, independent experts and affected families.

Families say the evidence over the past 12 weeks has shocked them and made them more angry. The inquiry heard that:

• Staff received a report in 2015, at the time the hospital opened, which indicated that the water supply was at a high risk of infection

• Head of estates Ian Powrie, who commissioned the mandatory report, admitted he “dropped the ball” and had not read the document until three years later.

• The hospital’s second in charge, Dr Jennifer Armstrong, admitted being “taken aback” that the hospital had “not been built right” – but did not believe there was evidence the problems with the building caused the unusual infections.

• Dr Christine Peters, a senior microbiologist and former infection control doctor who became a whistleblower, said she still had ongoing concerns about the building and that there was a “serious problem with culture which does not value honesty”.

• The chairman of an independent investigation concluded there was a likely link between some infections in child cancer patients and the contaminated water supply. But Prof Mike Stevens said he felt the health board’s chief executive had tried to “turn the screw” on him to alter the findings of his review.

Affected families told BBC Scotland News that three years on from giving their evidence to the inquiry, they had heard nothing to reassure them the problems at the hospitals had been fully addressed.

They also claimed that senior executives were more concerned with protecting the reputation of the hospital than patient safety.

Mark Bisset, from Peebles, still takes his 12-year-old daughter Charly to the Royal Hospital for Children for routine appointments.

She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2019 at the age of seven and underwent a stem cell transplant in the adult hospital because the child cancer wards were closed after a series of infection outbreaks.

Charly also contracted a number of infections during her five-month inpatient stay, which he believes could have come from the building.

“Four times our other children had to come in and say goodbye to their sister,” said Mr Bisset.

Charly is now cancer free but still requires support for ongoing health issues.

Mr Bisset says the family are still “petrified” every time they visit the hospital.

“You get the fear. I’ve asked for her care to be moved to Edinburgh because I just don’t trust that hospital any longer, I don’t feel it is safe,” he said.

He said listening to the evidence at the inquiry had been hard, but that “you need the truth to come out”.

Like other families we have spoken to, Mark says he does not trust senior figures at the health board – and that he has never been given assurances that the hospital is now safe.

“They are denying there is a link between the infections and the hospital,” he said.

“We’ve heard all this evidence where they deny there is a link, but when you go back there are still filters on the taps.

“If there wasn’t a problem then why do they need filters on the taps?”

Maureen Dynes’ husband Tony, 63, died in 2021, after cancer treatment at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Maureen, from East Kilbride, only learned her husband had contracted two infections, stenotrophomonas and aspergillus, after requesting his medical records.

She said some of the information coming out from the inquiry made her “feel sick” and that it was “disgusting” the health board could have known about the problems.

“There is a clear lack of transparency,” she said.

“If there was honesty and transparency about the state of the building it would allay some of the fears for people going in.”

While work has been done on the water and ventilation in the children’s wards, she was not aware of any changes to the ward where Tony was treated.

“It’s the only bone marrow transplant ward in Scotland, it’s where were are told is the safest place to go – but my experience is it’s not as safe as it should be,” she added.

Louise Slorance’s husband Andrew died from Covid while being treated for cancer at the hospital in 2020 and also tested positive for aspergillus.

She still thinks there is a failure of governance and effective management at the hospitals, and that an interim report is “vital” due to what she believes is “an ongoing patient safety risk”.

Patrick McGuire – a partner with Thompsons Solicitors, which represents many families at the inquiry – said the evidence at the inquiry made it “very clear” that the hospital was “unsafe for patients and riddled with management failures from the beginning”.

He said: “We still don’t know if the hospital is now safe and this is of huge concern to my clients.

“This is why it’s vital that the inquiry consider publishing an interim report on the current levels of safety and what still has to be done to ensure the welfare of patients.”

However, a spokesperson for the inquiry said: “In order to get to that final report as quickly as possible, Lord Brodie’s approach is to focus on the final report.”

The inquiry is due to hear further evidence next April before closing hearings in August 2025.

In a statement, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We can provide absolute assurance to all of our patients, families, staff and the public that our hospitals are safe.

“This is clearly evidenced by publicly available indicators of safety collected and monitored at a local and national level.

“Mandatory surveillance of healthcare associated infections demonstrates NHSGGC consistently performs better than many other boards across Scotland and mortality rates at the QEUH campus are in line with, and at times lower than, the Scottish average.”

The health board said it would continue to support the inquiry to fully establish the facts.

“We extend our sympathies to any families who have lost loved ones in our care and all those affected during the inquiry,” it added.