The deaths of seven patients at Glasgow’s landmark super-hospital are now being investigated, prosecutors have confirmed.
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) is investigating two more deaths after cancer patients, many of them children, contracted infections linked to a contaminated water supply and ventilation system, further evidence by Scottish Labor that political pressures will apply to reopen the campus ahead of the general election in April 2015.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said on Saturday it was investigating the cases of 23-year-old Molly Cuddyhigh and former Scottish Government civil servant Andrew Slorens, and vowed to keep their families informed of progress.
Cuddihy, who was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer at the age of 15, was treated at the Royal Hospital for Children and at the adjacent QEUH, both of which were part of a six-year public trial that reached its final stage last month. She died last August, her organs irreparably weakened by powerful drugs used to fight infections and her cancer treatment.
The inquiry also heard damning new evidence from the health board, including their admission that serious infections in 84 children’s cancer patients, two of whom died, were possibly caused by a contaminated water system.
COPFS previously confirmed investigations into four deaths were ongoing 10-year-old Millie Main, who died in 2017two other children and Gail Armstrong, 73, died in 2019 and was being treated for an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma when she contracted a fungal infection commonly associated with pigeon droppings.
Additionally, COPFS said on Saturday it had received a report in 2021 regarding the death of 65-year-old Anthony Dines, who was also being treated at QEUH for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The health board offered a “sincere and unreserved apology” to those affected and insisted it was a “very different organisation” to the one involved in the design and construction of the hospital a decade ago.
But three senior microbiologists who first raised the alarm about infection control problems told the inquiry in its final days that they still had “significant concerns” about the extent to which the necessary changes had been driven by senior management.
At First Minister’s Questions last Thursday, the Scottish Labor leader, Anas serversaid he had “ridiculous evidence” from minutes of meetings between Glasgow Health Board officials and the Scottish Government that “political pressure” had been applied to open the new hospital before it was ready.
This was previously denied by First Minister John Swinney and former First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon.
Sarwar told MSPs: “The decision to open the hospital early capped a decade of lies, fraud and cover-ups, intimidation and gaslighting of staff, families being lied to and denial of the truth and infections that led to the deaths of children and possibly adults – all of which put politics before patient safety.”
