NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) will be given “one final chance” after an infections scandal at its flagship hospital campus.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said experts will review about 80 cases where children may have contracted infections at the Royal Hospital for Children (RCH) in Glasgow.
She also announced two paediatric cancer wards at the RCH that closed in 2018 will not re-open until this summer at the earliest.
A five-stage scale is used in Scotland to show the level of oversight for stricken health boards – NHSGGC is currently at stage four. Freeman said she had not ruled out taking the health board to level five – meaning it would be deemed to be “unable to deliver effective care” and requiring ministerial intervention.
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Freeman said a review of infections in the paediatric haemato-oncology ward at the children’s hospital since it opened in 2015 would examine about 80 cases.
The hospital is part of the £842 million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus, which Holyrood heard has been “plagued” by “complaints, crises and tragedies” since it opened.
Concerns continue about infections at the hospital, with the parents of 10-year-old Millie Main, whose death after beating cancer has been linked to an infection caused by contaminated water, demanding a fatal accident inquiry.
With so many cases to be looked at, Freeman said a phased approached would be taken, starting with patients who were treated in 2017. She also pledged all families will be given a face-to-face report once the reviews are complete.
She told MSPs: “I have a clear priority to make sure families are given the answers they need about their children’s time in the hospital, particularly about infections that may have caused harm or, in the worst cases, may have been the cause of death.”
The work will be led by Professor Mike Stevens, of the University of Bristol, and Gaynor Evans, NHS Improvement England’s clinical lead for the Gram-negative bloodstream infection programme.
Freeman said: “The first set of reviews will be completed during February. The review team considers there are likely to be around 80 cases to be examined, but will continue to keep this under review.”
A public inquiry has already been announced on issues at the QEUH site and the delayed Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
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