Freeman refuses to resign over Glasgow hospital infection crisis

The health secretary appeared on BBC Scotland's Sunday Politics

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has refused to resign over the patient infection crisis at a Glasgow hospital.

It follows reports that a further 10 cases of infections have been linked to water contamination at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital complex.

Glasgow health board has been put in "special measures" following the deaths of two children at the hospital.

Ms Freeman told BBC Scotland's Sunday Politics that she wanted to restore trust in the hospital.

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Her interview came after the Sunday Mail reported that a whistleblower had identified 10 new cases of infections at the hospital in 2016.

Ms Freeman confirmed that review by doctors revealed that 26 infections affected 14 sick children in 2017.

A further 23 cases were recorded in 2018 by Health Protection Scotland.

All of them were in paediatric cancer, it is claimed.

However Ms Freeman was unable to give definitive numbers on how many infection cases there had been at the hospital.

She said a team were looking at a number of inspection reports and making sure they were not "double counting" or missing cases.

"Once I am absolutely confident of those numbers I'm very happy to give them to you, but at this point that work is still going on," she added.

Health Protection Scotland is due to publish figures on Tuesday showing infection rates among children in the hospital's cancer wards since 2016.

Asked if was going to resign, Ms Freeman replied: "No I'm not because my focus is on fixing these matters and restoring public confidence. That's the right thing for me to do."

The chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), Jane Grant, said it was a distressing time for families and staff.

She continued: "Unfortunately there will always be a small number of patients who develop infections because of the seriousness of their illness and we are fully committed to supporting them and their families at this difficult time.

"There are clearly lessons for us to learn in how we communicate with families during these periods."

She said they were working with parents and an expert appointed by the health secretary to help improve "information flow".

Third child

Meanwhile the Scottish Mail on Sunday reported that an investigation was under way after a child being treated for cancer became critically ill after contracting an infection during a "simple procedure" called a line flush.

His mother, who asked for anonymity, told the newspaper that when the line was removed, it was found to have "five separate bugs" in it.

The latest case, which was said to have happened in September, comes after the deaths of two children in 2017. Milly Main, 10, was recovering from leukaemia and three-year-old Mason Djemat had a rare genetic condition.

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NHSGGC said a clinician and an infection control expert would meet the child's family this week.

The board added that an investigation into a "small number of unusual infections" found no links between the infections, nor any link between the infections and the ward environment.

The health secretary said she did not know about the case until it was reported in the newspaper.

She said she was receiving reports about the number of children with blood borne infections at the hospital but they did not name particular patients.

Health and safety report

In the BBC Scotland interview Ms Freeman also revealed that she was not alerted to a critical Health and Safety Executive report on the hospital when it was published in November 2018.

It listed problems with the way staff were trained and equipped to deal with highly contagious diseases, according to a report in The Sunday Post.

Ms Freeman said ministers "wouldn't normally see" HSE reports but she wanted that to change in future.

"I think I should be informed when the Health and Safety Executive issues serious compliance notices on any board," she said.

NHSGGC said hundreds of staff had been trained in the advanced use of personal protective equipment since the HSE report was published.

The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children share a campus in the south of Glasgow

Scottish Labour's Anas Sarwar said it was clear there had been problems at the hospital for years and senior managers should have taken action much earlier.

"Now that the health board has been placed in special measures, parents must be told the truth about what has gone so catastrophically wrong," he added.

The Scottish Conservatives repeated their call for Ms Freeman to resign.

Miles Briggs, their health spokesman added: "It is clear that Jeane Freeman is not on top of her brief and is being blown along by events."

Meanwhile the Scottish Liberal Democrat's Alex Cole-Hamilton called for an urgent review into whether the building is fit for purpose.

"I want answers. I want to be clear what [the health secretary] knew, understand how decisions were taken, so we can learn from this and make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else."