A grieving widow has accused a flagship hospital of deliberately concealing the circumstances of her husband’s death.
Louise Slorance said NHS chiefs did not tell her about a deadly mould-based bug she said was mentioned in tragic Andrew’s medical notes.
She said the insides of the scandal-hit Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow need “ripped out” and insisted Andrew would still be alive had he not been admitted to the QEUH.
She said: “Nothing has changed at the QEUH and the hospital remains a serious risk to vulnerable patients like Andrew.”
The Glasgow super-hospital has been hit by a series of infection outbreaks, with a full inquiry currently underway into problems at the facility.
Andrew, a father of five who lived in Edinburgh, was a civil servant who worked on emergency response communications in the Scottish Government, including on the pandemic. He was also a cancer sufferer who was admitted to the QEUH for stem cell treatment in October 2020.
He tested positive for Covid in early November and passed away, aged 49, on December 5 last year.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to him on Twitter and attended his wake.
In an interview with the Record, Louise said Andrew’s medical notes made reference to the infection aspergillus days before he died.
Louise said aspergillus was “never mentioned to me” despite the “many mentions of it in Andrew’s medical records”.
She added: “It is hard to explain the feelings I had on discovering the aspergillus on reviewing Andrew’s notes.
“Anger, shock, distress, confusion, and disappointment only go some way to describe these feelings.”
She said the medical notes led her to the conclusion that “NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde deliberately concealed this information”.
Louise, 45, who works in public affairs, said she wished the hospital had been “honest”.
She said his death certificate, which mentions Covid, should be amended to include aspergillus, and said the QEUH, which is the subject of a public inquiry into patient safety scandals, is “absolutely not” safe.
She added: “There’s been problems there since opening as far as I can tell. I don’t think anybody is honest about those [things]. And that goes through the doctors we had contact with right up to the health board – and at Scottish Government level. The scale of the problem is huge.
“In order to make vulnerable, at-risk patients like Andrew safe, the insides of that hospital need ripped out.”
On whether Andrew would still be here today were it not for him being admitted to the Glasgow hospital, she said: “Yes. His cancer was in remission.”
Louise is also “100 per cent” certain Andrew contracted Covid at the QEUH.
She wants an independent case note review into aspergillus at the QEUH and a “thorough” Crown Office probe into hospital-acquired Covid infection.
After he died, Sturgeon tweeted: “All of us in the Scottish Government are devastated by this news and send love to Louise Slorance and family.
“Andrew was a wonderful person and made a difference in all he did. He was a crucial part of our resilience team and central to our fight against Covid this year. We will miss him hugely.”
There were calls last night for a full probe into Andrew’s case.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson, said: “Time and time again, families have been left devastated by failings at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. I commend Louise for courageously speaking out about her family’s ordeal in the hope that nobody else has to go through what they have.
"These failings cannot simply keep happening. There needs to be an independent case review into aspergillus at the Queen Elizabeth and the Crown Office should look at every hospital death as a consequence of Covid.
“Nobody has been held responsible for the catastrophic errors at the hospital and the Scottish Government needs to step up and fix this before there are more devastating consequences.”
A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with the family and loved ones of Mr Slorance.
“We are sorry the family are unhappy with aspects of Mr Slorance’s treatment, details of which were discussed with the family at the time. While we cannot comment on individual patients, we do not recognise the claims being made.
“We are confident the appropriate care was provided.
“There has been a clinical review of this case and we would like to reassure the family we have been open and honest and there has been no attempt to conceal any information from them.
“We would like to offer to meet again with Mr Slorance’s family to discuss the care provided and the issues they have raised.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "Our thoughts and condolences are with Andrew’s wife and family. Andrew was a greatly valued member of the Scottish Government team who is deeply missed by everyone who had the privilege of meeting him. He made an exceptional contribution to our work.
"While we can’t comment on individual cases, we will be engaging with the health board so that concerns raised are properly investigated.
“We are testing more patients in hospital which enables us to identify more asymptomatic positive cases.
“This ensures that we can provide the right care and treatment for patients whilst utilising enhanced infection prevention and control measures to reduce the opportunity for further transmission.”
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