Holyrood’s Health Committee must investigate failings which led to the deaths of two patients at one of Scotland’s flagship hospitals, the Scottish Conservatives will say tomorrow.
Pressure is increasing on the SNP government following revelations that two people died after contracting infections spread by pigeon droppings at the new Queen Elizabeth facility in Glasgow.
Now, shadow health secretary Miles Briggs will demand senior figures from the Scottish Government, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the Healthcare Inspectorate give evidence to MSPs as a matter of urgency.
He will formally request at tomorrow’s meeting that an inquiry is launched.
It follows a weekend of revelations about secrecy surrounding the deaths, which occurred in December but were only formally disclosed to the Scottish Parliament last week.
Key questions include whether or not recommendations set down by the high profile Vale of Leven probe have been followed in this instance; details of inspections which have taken place across Scotland over the last decade; and how many deaths have been caused by hospital-acquired infections.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said:
“It’s imperative the parliament’s Health Committee investigates this scandal as a matter of urgency.
“This is exactly what Holyrood committees were established to do, and I intend to speak to other MSPs who sit on the Health Committee to find a way of making this happen.
“It’s bad enough that two people have lost their lives in such unacceptable circumstances.
“But in the weeks since the SNP government has been complacent and badly lacked transparency.
“The families involved will have questions that deserved to be answered, but so too will the patients, visitors and staff who use the hospital on a daily basis.
“The new Queen Elizabeth was supposed to be a flagship hospital offering the very best care in a safe, clean environment.
“Instead, infections have been allowed to spread in a way you would associate with the Victorian times.
“It’s not good enough, and Holyrood needs to find out why this happened, and how best to ensure it’s never repeated.”
