Health and Safety expert claims NHS Ayrshire & Arran "covered-up" coronavirus outbreak in Ayr Hospital

A health tsar claims NHS bosses “covered-up” a Covid-19 outbreak at Ayr Hospital.

Thirty-six staff and patients linked to the same ward all fell ill with the deadly bug.

But it can now be revealed that the Station 6 incident was not reported to the Health and Safety Executive.

And Roger Livermore, the man who developed the HSE’s UK policy on infection control in hospitals, reckons that is worthy of prosecution.

He said: “This is a major breach of the law.

“By HSE procedures the outbreak constituted a major incident.

“Both the outbreak and the failure to report require HSE immediately to investigate the outbreak, the non-reporting, and infection control across the rest of the board.

“Given that the board covered-up a major incident, it will meet the requirements for a prosecution for breach of the law on reporting incident (RIDDOR).

“This is irrespective of failures in infection control related to the incident.”

Roger, a former Crown Prosecutor and HSE Executive, is also a founding member of A Safe And Accountable People’s NHS.

He added: “The incident is definitely occupationally-related.

“You have 36 cases linked to the one location.

“So of course it is reportable.”

Medical chief Crawford McGuffie insists national guidance was followed (UGC)

A HSE spokesperson confirmed they had not received any reports in relation to the outbreak.

They added: “When deciding if a report is required, the responsible person must make a judgement, based on the information available, as to whether or not a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 is likely to have been caused by an occupational exposure, i.e. whether or not there is reasonable evidence that a work-related exposure is the likely cause of the disease.

“We would expect NHS Ayrshire & Arran to report those cases that meet this criteria.”

When the Ayrshire Post uncovered the outbreak last month, NHS Ayrshire & Arran confirmed that Health Protection Scotland were notified.

Pressed on the failure to report to the HSE, Crawford McGuffie, Medical Director at NHS Ayrshire & Arran, said: “We have taken all appropriate actions required and followed national guidance throughout.”