Image source, Getty images

Charities in Glasgow are calling on the city council to open its winter shelter early after an unexpected cold snap saw temperatures plummet below freezing.

A man died on Sunday after being discovered in a city centre car park and investigations are ongoing to establish if he was homeless.

Temperatures in Scotland fell to -8.1C (17.4F) on Sunday, while it was -8C (17.6F) in Glasgow on Monday night.

The city's winter night shelter is not due to open its doors until 1 December.

Craig Henderson welcomed the fact more people are keen to help the homeless.

"When I was living rough, I'd say it was the most horrific thing that happened to me in life. It was terrifying."

Often homeless people do not realise they have neglected their health so much, he added.

Adedokun Adenipekun highlighted the benefits of social prescribing and suggests it could be useful in tackling issues such as loneliness.

Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said it seems to be the communities that would benefit most from social prescribing seem to be the ones with the fewer facilities needed for it.

He saidone of the problems is politicians often focus on election cycles and because the benefits of social prescribing are harder to measure, the focus will frequently be on acute services.

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Returning to the primary care evidence session.

Iain Laing stressed the importance of access to exercise and sporting clubs run by the third sector.

His fellow witness Craig Henderson pointed to a child's community care cafe as an example of good practice to prevent children from being cooped up in the house.

Image source, KIMBERLY DARROCH

NEWS SUMMARY:

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has told MSPs a public inquiry into two Scottish hospitals will investigate issues around water contamination as part of its remit.

Last week the mother of ten-year-old Milly Main, who died after contracting an infection at Glasgow's children's hospital, said she believed it had come from bacteria in the water supply.

The health board says the water supply was not tested at the time Milly died.

Ms Freeman told MSPs she expected to be able to announce who would lead a public inquiry into problems at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and also Edinburgh's sick children's hospital before Christmas, but she said it was not yet possible to say how long it would take.

Kimberly Darroch gave details of her daughter Milly's case after it was highlighted in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday, prompting calls for the resignation of the health secretary.

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Stacey Smith from Edinburgh gets us underway saying prevention and early intervention were strong themes in the panel.

Tory MSP Brian Whittle agrees, adding we have to be bolder, braver and shift funding to this.

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Patients should get appointments with GPs lasting at least 15 minutes rather than 10, according to the Royal College of GPs.

In a report, it warns nearly 40% of GPs in Scotland feel overwhelmed by their workload at least once a week.

And it has called for 11% of NHS funding to be allocated to general practice to tackle health inequalities.

The Scottish government said a record number of GPs were working in Scotland and there were plans to recruit more.

Read more.

The committee will now turn to its primary care inquiry.

MSPs will hear directly from patients:

• George Burton
• Stacey Smith
• Anna Reid
• Ian Laing
• Adedokun Adenipekun
• Martin Misovic
• Craig Henderson
• Hugh Dunn

Tory MSP Miles Briggs pivots to hospital waste and asks how many tonnes of medical waste is currently being stored in Scotland.

Ms Freeman says 500 tonnes.

SEPA undertakes work to ensure those responsible for the collection, storage and disposal of waste are doing so to the required standards, she explains.

Ms Freeman says the government does not have the final cost of contingency arrangements because we are still under contingency plans.

Image source, Reuters

Nearly £15m has been spent on collecting medical waste in Scotland since the collapse of Healthcare Environmental Services, figures show.

The Lanarkshire-based company went to the wall last December after becoming embroiled in a waste stockpiling scandal.

Contingency measures were put in place to remove waste from every hospital, GP surgery, dental practice and pharmacy.

Who will fund these remedial works, the contractor or NHS Lothian, asks Mr Stewart.

The health secretary replies the Scottish government will fund the remedial works to staff and patients move into the new hospital as quickly and safely as possible.

Whether or not there is any redress from any party thereafter is for the public inquiry to establish, she says.

"I don't want to compromise the public inquiry."

Mr Whittle asks whether the inquiry will cover procurement and Ms Freeman agrees the inquiry would be a good place to unpick contractual accountabilities and liabilities.

Mr Stewart raises concerns about the faults in the fire system at Edinburgh sick kids hospital and points to mistakes in the tender document.

The answer to this latter point will be found by the public inquiry, the health secretary states.

She goes on to highlight a fire certificate was received by the site, but the NSS report recommended additional fire dampeners.

Problems with fire and electrical systems were found at the new hospital which has been lying empty due to safety concerns.

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The health secretary says new strains of bugs emerge all the time so expertise in microbiology must be in place in how we design and build hospitals.

Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer for the Scottish government, says there are a number of factors that should be put into the built environment.

Image source, PA Media

A public inquiry will be held to examine safety and wellbeing issues at the new children's hospital in Edinburgh and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

The inquiry will determine how vital issues relating to ventilation and other key building systems occurred.

It will also look at how to avoid mistakes in future projects.

Read more.

Image source, bbc

Independent assessments happen throughout a hospital build at key points, says the health secretary.

The inquiry will consider whether these assessments are sufficient and whether there needs to be a change in frequency, she says.

SNP MSP David Torrance wonders if the skillset was there in terms of the ventilation design for the Edinburgh hospital.

Ms Freeman explains for many boards, such a big infrastructure project is a one in a lifetime occurrence and therefore they will have to contract in expertise.

We shift this away from individual boards' responsibilities towards a national responsibility, with Health Facilities Scotland working alongside boards she adds.

The man in charge of NHS Lothian said he was left "dumbfounded" at the missed opportunities to spot the problems in Edinburgh's new children's hospital.

Tim Davison said the last-minute delay to the opening of the new Sick Kids site came as a "huge shock" and said he considered quitting.

But the NHS Lothian chief executive said a collective failure of "many senior and expert staff" was to blame.

Read more.

The health secretary says she would not describe the delay in opening Edinburgh's new children's hospital as an abandonment, adding the move was halted to maintain patient safety.

This was due to the failure in the environmental matrix and a number of missed opportunities to identify those, Ms Freeman says.

The Sick Kids facility was due to open in July, but last-minute inspections found safety concerns over its ventilation systems.

In the final independent assessor check the issue was identified a matter of days before the staff and patients were due to move to the new site, Ms Freeman points out.

The health secretary says the late identification was why all other critical areas of the site were checked leading to more work to be done, in parallel with the work being done in critical care.

Image source, bbc

Problems with fire and electrical systems have been found at a new hospital which has been lying empty due to safety concerns.

A report into safety issues at Edinburgh's new children's hospital identified "major" issues with the electrics in critical care areas.

A lack of qualified staff for the electrical installation was also identified by the internal NHS review.

The issues are not expected to delay the hospital opening next autumn.

Read more.

Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton asks whether a review of equipment and facilities in all high risk clinical areas involved in critical care can be looked at.

Ms Freeman says undertaking such an inspection would be a significant piece of work given the size of the NHS estate.

This could impact on other work, including the new Edinburgh children's hospital meeting its new deadline for opening she warns.

The health secretary says the government will work proactively with boards in terms of their maintenance and inspection schedules to ensure critical care areas are at the standard required.

Image source, bbc

Emma Harper points to the Healthcare Associated Inspection report on the QEUH.

The SNP MSP asks for a progress report on implementing the recommendations HAI made.

Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer for the Scottish government, says when the HAI publish a report the board then creates an action plan.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde accepted all the recommendations, she says and the action plan addressed issues like cleaning in the hospitals.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland can go at any time to monitor this, she adds.

Mr Whittle asks about an expected time frame and cost for the public inquiry.

Ms Freeman says she is unable to give a time frame because it is independent and it will also depend on what emerges from it.

All of this relates back to cost so we cannot make a decision on cost without knowing the time frame, she adds.