A campaigner who fought for families caught up in a lethal bug outbreak at a Scottish hospital fears lessons have not been learned for today’s coronavirus crisis.
Michelle McGinty, who lost her mother-in-law Sarah to Clostridium difficile (C.diff) at Dunbartonshire’s Vale of Leven, said there are “astounding” similarities 12 years on.
A shocking 34 hospital patients died in the outbreak, which first struck in December 2007.
A probe finally led to an apology in 2014 after Lord MacLean issued 75 recommendations to ensure there is no repeat.
Michelle described the pain of seeing more families torn apart by a deadly infection as the world struggles with Covid-19. Again, the elderly and those in hospital or care homes are at risk.
She said: “We fought hard to ensure infected wards were closed to new admissions, but now see elderly and vulnerable still being admitted to infected care homes. We fought to ensure that Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) was used at all times, but we are now seeing the scandal of carers being unable to access it.
“We fought for proper communication around DNRs and proper reporting in death certification but now we see testimony after testimony mirroring our issues with a lack of communication with families or the suggested under-reporting of deaths.”
Scroll down to read Michelle's open letter in full.
Her concern over DNRs - which means Do Not Resuscitate - follows shock from families who claim they are being used to quickly for some patients with coronavirus.
Since coronavirus swept the country, one of the biggest concerns has been over access to safety clothing.
Care homes are now at the centre of the epidemic, including a devastating recent outbreak in Skye.
Michelle’s concerns are being taken on by local MSP Jackie Baillie, who supported C Diff campaigners more than a decade ago when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was the SNP government’s health minister.
Baillie, Labour MSP for Dumbarton, said: “Nicola Sturgeon, as health minister, took action to prevent such an event as C.Diff ever occurring again, but it is clear that some lessons have not been learned and the disease prevention and mitigation strategy is in need of an overhaul.
“Also key to this is monitoring and oversight of care homes but the Care Inspectorate that is responsible for their regulation has been posted missing during the pandemic. That must end.
“We cannot, ever again, have the most vulnerable left to the mercy of such a disease.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are providing direct clinical and infection prevention support and testing in care homes with any active case, as well as testing before admission.
“Directors of public health have contacted every care home in Scotland with a view to providing enhanced clinical leadership and we have established a Care Home Rapid Action Group to monitor developments in the sector, react swiftly to developing issues and coordinate our wider package of support to the sector.
“Since March, 39 million items of PPE for social care, including care homes, have been distributed and staff and residents in care homes are being routinely tested where cases of the virus have been identified. We are also undertaking sample testing in homes without cases of Covid-19.”
Michelle’s open letter in full
I am writing this with tears in my eyes and hurt in my heart while I watch the harrowing stories of the Covid-19 outbreak, and the testimony of the patients, residents and families that have been affected by it. I am angry that people are dying unnecessarily, and that lessons that should have been learned 12 years ago, when so many families, including my own, needlessly lost our relatives during the C-diff outbreak, seem to have been forgotten or just ignored.
While people may say that these are different infections, and they are right to do so, the similarities are astounding. For the families of those who died from C-Diff, this pandemic has brought the heart-breaking memories of our loved ones suffering back to the fore. Like Covid-19, the C-Diff outbreak mainly targeted our elderly, who were vulnerable due to their age and underlying health conditions. Also, like Covid-19, they became very ill, very quickly.
But the main difference between then and now was that we could be with them, holding their hands and saying our goodbyes as they passed away. For the families who are losing their loved ones in this pandemic, not being able to share in the final moments of their loved one’s life must be the hardest thing to go through.
Our families came together to share our stories and give each other comfort in our loss, but when we realised that the same mistakes had been repeated in family after family then we knew that we had to fight for answers and to ensure lessons were learned. When we see that many of the mistakes of the C-Diff outbreak that should have been learned when we lost our loved ones being repeated it is simply devastating.
We fought hard to ensure infected wards were closed to new admissions, but now see elderly and vulnerable still being admitted to infected care homes. We fought to ensure that PPE was used at all times, but we are now seeing the scandal of carers being unable to access it. We fought for proper communication around DNRs and proper reporting in death certification but now we see testimony after testimony mirroring our issues with a lack of communication with families or the suggested under-reporting of deaths.
It took us nearly 10 years of fighting and putting our grief on hold to get the answers as to why our loved ones died needlessly in an infection outbreak, and we have had many promises made of how things have changed for the better. We have to believe that our fight all those years ago meant that our loved ones died for a reason and that was to ensure other families did not suffer like we have. But the mistakes that are being made in this pandemic mean that we have to question if our loved ones’ lives meant anything to the people who promised us that their deaths meant things would change.
