Patient safety

03.05.19

MSPs raise serious concerns over ‘not fit for purpose’ hospitals after seven infection deaths this year

MSPs have raised serious concerns with the health secretary over Scotland’s approach to infection-control and new “not fit for purpose” hospitals in the wake of seven infection-related deaths this year.

The Scottish politicians have demanded urgent action to improve the monitoring of hospital-acquired infections, and have said they are concerned that Scotland’s hospitals are not being built to a high enough standard to tackle infections.

An inquiry from Holyrood’s health committee was set up after a series of infection-control incidents in Scotland, including the death of three premature babies and a 10-year-old school boy.

The committee has written to the health secretary Jeane Freeman pointing out concerns with cleaning, maintenance and testing, and whilst the Scottish Government insists “robust measures” are in place, the MSPs say they have serious concerns.

They said they have heard evidence that infection control experts were “sidelined” in the design of new hospitals, and convener Lewis MacDonald said there does not seem to be a “proactive approach” to the problem.

He told Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland that the committee had seen Audit Scotland figures showing that Scotland’s total backlog of hospital maintenance jobs is approaching £900m, including hundreds of outstanding maintenance jobs at the brand-new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QUEH).

Macdonald said “tough questions” had to be asked about the systems of management across the whole country rather than individual hospitals.

He stated in his letter that one anonymous submission stated that infection control was either sidelined during design and planning, or advice was “circumvented due to ignorance, time and resource limitations.”

“We have bodies dealing with health facilities, with health protection, with healthcare improvement – but the overall responsibility for ensuring infections don't arise appears to lie often with the local board.”

The convenor added that the committee had been told “inadequate ventilation systems have been installed in new-build hospitals” which are “not fit for purpose” for their intended patient groups.

The first major case involved the death of a grandmother and a 10-year-old boy who contracted a fungal infection caused by pigeon droppings at the new £842m QEUH, leading to the health minister to order a review of the hospital.

 

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