NHS admits water system probably caused fatal infections in child cancer patients

Bosses at a scandal-hit NHS “super hospital” have admitted that its water system probably caused infections in child cancer patients.

Two children died and at least 84 fell ill with infections while being treated at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus in Glasgow.

For several years, officials at QEUH have denied any link between the hospital’s water supply and infections in patients. But NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the health board overseeing the hospital, has now admitted that there was a connection.

The admission came in a statement to the Scottish hospitals inquiry, which was set up in 2020 to investigate the hospital’s design following the death of four patients.

In closing submissions to the inquiry, the health board said it was “more likely than not” that a proportion of the infections had a connection to the hospital water system.

It added: “NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde accepts that, on the balance of probabilities, there is a causal connection between some infections suffered by patients and the hospital environment, in particular the water system.”

The statutory inquiry, chaired by Lord Brodie, is due to conclude this week after costing taxpayers £31m.

Jeane Freeman, the then SNP health secretary, ordered the investigation in 2019 following the death of Milly Main. The 10-year-old died in 2017 after contracting an infection at the Royal Hospital for Children’s cancer ward on the QEUH campus.

A separate corporate homicide investigation into the deaths of Milly, two other children and Gail Armstrong, 73, was launched in 2021.

Last August, prosecutors opened an investigation into the death of a young woman seven years after she became seriously ill with an infection potentially acquired in the hospital.

Throughout the inquiry, the health board had denied there was any evidence for a link between the infections and water and ventilation systems at the hospital, which was opened in 2015.

But in its closing submission, the board said it had changed its earlier position after hearing all the expert evidence. It also admitted that whistleblowers had been mistreated for raising concerns, issuing an “unreserved” apology.

The families of those affected welcomed the admission, but expressed fury at the fact officials had spent so long denying there had been a link.

‘Fighting for answers’

Kimberley Darroch, Milly’s mother, told the Mail on Sunday: “I’ve spent six years fighting for answers that should have been given at the very beginning.

“It’s good news that the health board has now admitted that, on the balance of probabilities, there was a causal connection between the environment and Milly’s bloodstream infection.

“This acknowledgement is a significant milestone for our family but it also highlights how hard families have to fight just to have the truth recognised.”

Charmaine Lacock’s daughter Paige, aged nine, contracted several infections while receiving treatment on the campus. Ms Lacock said she was “angry” because the health board made her and other relatives of those affected feel that their opinions “didn’t matter”.

She told the Mail: “We still fear going back to the hospital. Paige still says ‘we don’t touch the water’ as soon as we walk through that door. We were made to feel we were only attention-seeking and crazy for even suggesting the hospital wasn’t safe.”

The about-turn was hailed as a “turning point” by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, who called for a corporate homicide investigation to be expanded to include politicians who he accused of a “cover-up”.

Writing in the Mail, he vowed to establish Milly’s Law which he said “would create an independent public advocate with the authority to investigate incidents and establish the truth”.

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokesman said: “We remain fully committed to supporting the inquiry in its investigations.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “As an independent core participant of the inquiry, the Scottish Government is committed to assisting the inquiry, and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time.”