Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 01 December 2021
This morning, I met Kimberly Darroch, whose daughter Milly died four years ago, and Louise Slorance, whose husband died last year. They, like a number of families, are watching this debate.
Two years ago, I stood up in this Parliament and exposed the failures at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow. What has been uncovered in the two years since is a human tragedy on an unimaginable scale. It is beyond doubt the biggest scandal in the lifetime of this Parliament. Reaching where we are today has been possible only because of the bravery of senior clinicians who are willing to whistleblow. The response from the health board two years ago came from the same playbook that it is attempting to use now: cover-ups, spin, denials, bullying, silencing and calling into question the integrity of senior clinicians and families.
Let me start with a direct message to the front-line staff at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. I thank you for everything that you are doing. I have every confidence in you and know that you are working day and night to do your best for your patients. I have no confidence in the leadership of your health board. You deserve leadership that does not try to silence you or bully you. Perhaps most of all, you deserve management that does not disgracefully attempt to spread the blame to staff, as we have seen this week. I know that they are letting you down, and this fight is as much for you as it is for patients and families.
I say this directly to the health board leadership. Listen to the words of Dr Christine Peters: “do not gaslight” the entire staff base at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in order to protect your jobs at the top. Do not underestimate the resolve of the staff, patients and families. They cannot be silenced and they cannot be managed away. I have spoken to them and I have made them a promise—as a representative, but, more importantly, as a father. I will not stop, I will not go away and I will not rest until I get the answers and the justice that patients, families and the staff deserve.
Today, we are drawing a line in the sand. In the words of Kimberly Darroch and Louise Slorance, enough is enough.
Members of the Parliament have a choice of siding with patients, families and staff or with the health board’s failed leadership. For the sake of the dedicated national health service staff, the patients at the hospital and the grieving parents, and in memory of those who have lost their lives, I implore every member in the chamber to please send a message to the health board’s leadership that the Parliament has no confidence in them and to support escalating the board to the highest emergency level without delay.
This has been a two-year fight for justice. In that time, three water reports that flagged the risk as high have been ignored; staff have been bullied and silenced; patients have got infections; and more patients have died—in one case, a family found out the cause only because of the bravery of whistleblowers, and in another case, a family still do not know how their child died, because the health board has not contacted them.
We have had wards closed, an independent review, a case note review, a public inquiry and criminal investigations. Families still have to fight the system to get the truth and still have to tell their tragic stories in newspapers to get answers from the Government and the health board. People are still dying from preventable hospital-acquired infections.
In the two years, not a single person has been held to account, so I have direct questions for the health secretary. How many healthcare infection incident assessment tool red warnings has he received from the hospital since he became health secretary? When did he receive them? If the answer is none, why not? What questions have been asked about that? If the answer is that warnings have been received, how many have there been, when were they received and what action did the health secretary take? The crucial question is this: how many more deaths, how many more heartbroken families and how many more tragic stories will it take before the Government loses confidence in the health board’s leadership?
There is the chance today for everyone in the Parliament to show that we believe and stand by the NHS staff and to show that we support the patients and the parents who have lost loved ones and will seek justice for them. As I said at the start, Kimberly Darroch, Louise Slorance and many other families are watching the debate. They want to know what side members of the Parliament are on. I know which side I am on. The question for every member in the chamber is: what side are you on?
I move,
That the Parliament has no confidence in the leadership of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and believes that the Scottish Government must escalate the NHS board to Stage 5 of the performance escalation framework without delay.