Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 01 December 2021
The issues that we are debating could not be more serious. They are matters of life and death within our NHS—an institution in which people should feel safe and secure, in which they rightly expect to have their lives saved, not wasted, and from which they should expect the highest levels of clinical care and the highest standards of hygiene, cleanliness and infection control. Instead, we are debating a hospital that failed, a health board that failed and a Government that has failed.
It is more than two years since we first learned that contaminated water led to the death of Milly Main, but new tragic cases are still only now being made public. Families of the individuals who were infected reveal a culture of secrecy and cover-up among the senior hospital staff. I am in do doubt that the board of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde should be held accountable and responsible, but let us not overlook the simple fact that the buck stops elsewhere.
The Scottish National Party planned, delivered and ran the hospital. The Government must take full responsibility for the situation. That is why my colleague Douglas Ross is right to call for a second independent public inquiry into the actions of the SNP Government. Yes, the board should go, but the ultimate responsibility lies with SNP ministers’ repeated failure to get to grips with the tragic situation. The Parliament and the country need to fully understand what action ministers have taken since they first became aware of the issues.
We support the Labour motion and propose our own amendment, but we should be careful what we wish for. Escalating the hospital and the health board to stage 5 would mean transferring the operational control of the health board to Scottish ministers, and, on the basis of past, present and, to be frank, today’s performance, that will not inspire confidence among patients.
However, the debate goes far wider than the tragic deaths and illness experienced at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital: it is, sadly, about the culture of this Government—its moral code and moral compass. We know that a fish rots from the head down. We know how this Government operates when it comes to transparency. We know how this culture has permeated some public institutions. There is a corrosive culture of secrecy, questions unanswered, seats left unfilled—like the First Minister’s today—and responsibility dodged. There is diversion and distraction—“It wisnae me,” “Look the other way,” “Nothing to see here.”