Glasgow's NHS board will be subject to 'special measures' following the tragic death of two children, it has been revealed.
Scotland's Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced the plans in a letter to the Health and Sport Committee at Holyrood.
The board has been escalated to stage four of the NHS Board Performance Escalation Framework due to "ongoing issues relating to infection prevention, management and control at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Children".
This means an oversight board, chaired by Professor Fiona McQueen, Chief Nursing Officer, will be put in place to "ensure appropriate governance" to increase public confidence.
The news comes after we revealed how 10-year-old Milly Main died at the £824m Queen Elizabeth University Hospital while recovering from leukaemia treatment.
In a heart-breaking interview with the Daily Record, mum Kimberly Darroch said her daughter caught a lethal bug, linked to dirty water, when she was in remission for cancer and ready to return home.
She urged NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board to “stop lying” about the case and urged Health Secretary Jeane Freeman to “tell the truth” about her daughter’s death.
Another child, Mason Djemat, three, also died in 2017.
Both children were treated on a ward affected by water contamination at the Royal Hospital for Children, which is part of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus.
Freeman has stepped in following whistleblowing claims 26 child cancer patients had acquired water-related infections at the scandal-hit QEUH, first raised by Anas Sarwar MSP.
Sarwar, Labour MSP for Glasgow, welcomed the measures: “Jeane Freeman has taken the correct course of action.
“The Glasgow health board is not fit for purpose, and this is a necessary step following the unforgivable failings of senior management.
“The focus now must be to tell parents, patients and the public the truth about infections at the hospital.
“I pay tribute to the brave whistleblowers who came forward to shine a light on the catastrophic failings in the hope that nothing like this can ever happen again.
"My thoughts are with Milly’s mum Kimberly and her family. She is one step closer to getting the truth.”
In Scotland, a five-stage scale is used to show the level of oversight for stricken health boards. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde now joins NHS Tayside and Highland at stage four.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the measure puts the future of the board's leadership in doubt.
"This is a long overdue intervention in a health board which has lost the confidence and trust of families long ago," she said.
"It shouldn't have taken parents and staff whistle-blowers speaking out to force the Government into taking special measures.
"The Scottish Government must now confirm whether they are happy for the chief executive and the current leadership team to continue in their roles."
She added: "The chief executive is managing a board which has badly let down many families and this cannot be allowed to continue."
The Health secretary confirmed earlier this week a public inquiry would take place into the super hospital.
