A child cancer patient died of an infection caused by a super hospital's contaminated water supply, a whistleblower has claimed.
It is also claimed the child's parents were not told of the findings of a probe after a doctor-led investigation uncovered the infection link at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Dozens of children are alleged to have suffered water supply infections in the £842million hospital's cancer wards in recent years, the Daily Record reported.
The hospital opened in 2015 and the campus includes the adjoining Royal Hospital for Children (RHC).
Glasgow Labour MSP Anas Sarwar, who was contacted by the whistleblower, described the claims as a “scandal”.
An official probe was published this year by Health Protection Scotland, which is part of the NHS, over an infection outbreak in two child cancer wards at the RHC in 2018.
HPS focused on the water system and examined infections acquired by patients in the 2A/2B wards, which were closed in October last year. Patients were decanted to the QEUH.
The HPS report found “widespread contamination” in the water supply in both hospitals and 23 children contracted bloodstream infections in the cancer wards between January and September 2018.
It also stated that a high level of indicators of hygiene issues in the water supply were found prior to the handover of the hospital from the contractor to the health board.
However, after the official report was published, a clinician-led team at NHSGGC went back further than 2018, it is claimed.
According to a whistleblower who approached Sarwar, this probe found up to 26 cases of water supply infections in children in the cancer wards in 2017.
It is claimed that one of the children with cancer died after contracting an infection.
In this case, it is claimed the internal probe found the presence of a type of bacteria, stenotrophomonas, in the patient.
In the HPS report which focused on 2018, stenotrophomonas was linked to 12 of the 23 infection cases.
It is claimed the results from the internal investigation were circulated within NHSGGC this year.
Sarwar said: “I have had information shared with me which shows that senior managers have been repeatedly alerted to the fact that a previous review failed to include cases of infection related to the water supply in 2017.Central to this whistleblowing evidence is that one child died and, to this day, the parents have never been told the true cause of their child’s death.
“That isn’t just a scandal, it is a heart-breaking human tragedy.
“Since the QEUH’s opening, we have seen a series of scandals – faulty ventilation, leaks, mould, fungal problems, falling panels and sewage leaks at the entrance and in operating theatres and contaminated water.”
NHSGGC said their priority was the safety of patients and that all cases of infection were rigorously reviewed.
They added that senior clinical staff had completed an additional clinical review of the cases from 2017 in July this year and that no further action was required.
The board said they have been working closely with Health Protection Scotland, assisted by Strathclyde University, on a review of cases of infection over a period from January 2015 to September 2019 and this report is due “imminently”.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman recently announced a public inquiry into the construction of the QEUH and Edinburgh’s new children’s hospital.
