A MOTHER has told how she felt “anxious” about every admission to a Glasgow hospital after her son’s “near-death experiences” from a hospital-acquired infection.

Colette Gough was told the infection which left her son seriously ill following surgery during his cancer treatment came from the drains at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus in Glasgow and was not an isolated case.

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry is hearing evidence on problems at two flagship Scottish hospitals that contributed to the deaths of two children. It is investigating the construction of the QEUH campus in Glasgow and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh.

After being diagnosed with cancer, Gough’s 10-year-old son was being treated in the Schiehallion unit in the children’s hospital on the QEUH campus, and had surgery to remove a kidney in early September 2018.

The inquiry heard his condition deteriorated after surgery due to a line infection and medical staff battled to stabilise him, and that the same thing happened the following day.

Gough said that she and her husband were invited to a meeting with two doctors who explained where the infection had come from.

She said: “They apologised and told us the infection he had had come from the drains and that he was not an isolated case, that he was one of six children who had fallen ill about the same time and that there seems to be an issue with the building and the drains and the water.

“Because of that, the plan was to close the ward and transfer the unit to somewhere else in the hospital.”

Earlier, Gough said there were signs on the sinks in the Schiehallion unit asking people not to drink the water or pour anything down the drain, and that during the first month of their time at the hospital tap filters appeared. However she said staff “played down” concerns.

The inquiry heard that around that time work was being done on the building cladding, and a window fell out of the adult hospital.

Alastair Duncan QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Gough: “Thinking about where things stood, the issues you experienced on ward 2A, the shower water, issues you experienced on ward 3B, two life endangering events, the now closure of wards 2A, 2B, the move to the adult hospital, an issue with cladding, an issue with windows, possible risk from the work being done, how did you feel about the hospital?”

She replied: “Anxious about every single admission and the anxiety levels just kept rising.”

The inquiry was ordered after patients at the QEUH died from infections linked to pigeon droppings and the water supply, and concerns over the ventilation system delayed the opening of the Edinburgh site.

In Glasgow when wards 2A and 2B closed children were moved to ward 6A in the adult hospital. However, in January 2019 it emerged there was a problem with that ward amid a fungal issue linked to pigeon droppings.

Gough said parents were sent a letter saying there had been two isolated cases of an unusual fungal infection linked to soil or pigeon droppings and that control measures had been put in place, with no further cases.

The letter also mentioned issues around shower room sealant that were being urgently repaired. The inquiry, chaired by Lord Brodie, continues.