Expert to head up infection control at Glasgow's QEU hospital

Two children died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital

The government has appointed an expert to oversee infection prevention and control at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow.

The health secretary said Professor Marion Bain's appointment would help restore trust among staff and families.

Glasgow's health board was put into special measures last month because of ongoing issues around infection control.

It followed the deaths of two children at the city's largest hospital.

Jeane Freeman apologised to the parents of the two patients who died in 2017 in the Royal Hospital for Children (RHC), which is part of the QEUH campus.

She later told MSPs there had been an increase in certain infections at the hospital between 2017 and 2019.

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But she insisted infection rates were returning to normal.

She said a full review of all relevant cases from 2015 onwards would be carried out.

The health secretary was challenged by opposition MSPs on why senior mangers were not moved aside after it became clear they had been warned about the safety of the water supply at the hospital before it opened.

Ms Freeman said bringing in external experts would help secure confidence now, while an independent inquiry would answer questions about the building's design.

In a statement to parliament on Tuesday, she said: "Families deserve confidence in their services and deserve answers.

"I have outlined a significant level of intervention within the operation of the QEUH to ensure these issues are dealt with thoroughly and quickly.

"I know, like me, it's the overriding concern of all members of this chamber that where our NHS falls short of the expectations we have for it that we move robustly to address them."

'Heads must roll'

Prof Bain, who is a former medical director at NHS National Services Scotland, will be supported by a senior clinician in infection control and prevention.

Scottish Conservative health spokeswoman Miles Briggs said nothing Ms Freeman had done in relation to the hospital suggested she was "in control of this crisis".

He added: "The families have lost confidence in her as health secretary, and so have NHS staff, and who can blame them?

"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."

Labour's Anas Sarwar said "heads must roll" over the fact that independent water reports carried out when the hospital opened in 2015 and again in 2017 were not shared with the government.

He said: "I welcome the appointment of the oversight board, but patients, parents and the public have lost faith in the leadership of the health board.

"Senior managers must be moved aside to allow an independent investigation to happen. If they are allowed to walk the crime scene, then they risk compromising that investigation and this whole process fails before it has even started."