Police probe death of fourth child at scandal-hit hospital

POLICE are now probing the deaths of four children at Scotland’s scandal-hit superhospital, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Detectives stepped up their investigation at the flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow after claims that two more children have died of infections.

Police are already investigating three child deaths at the £842 million hospital, but have now widened their inquiries to include one of the new deaths.

The latest probe comes after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told the Scottish parliament last week that two more children had died of infections believed to have been picked up at the QEUH.

Whistleblowers believe one child cancer patient died after being infected by the fungus aspergillus in November 2020, just weeks before civil servant Andrew Slorance died from the same infection in the same QEUH ward.

They also say that there was at least one other death from stenotrophomonas, the water-linked infection mentioned on the death certificate of ten-year-old Milly Main, who died in 2017. A separate police probe continues into the death of Mr Slorance, a top civil servant for Nicola Sturgeon’s government.

The father of five died aged 49 after testing positive for Covid-19 while receiving cancer treatment.

His widow, Louise Slorance, said she wasn’t told he had contracted the fungal infection, which she found in his medical notes.

Milly Main died after contracting an infection linked to water contamination, which came to light in 2019 after a leaked report. In 2019, it also emerged that a ten-year-old boy and a 73-year-old woman died after being infected with a bug linked to pigeon droppings.

The QEUH is at the centre of the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, which is also looking at the delayed opening of Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, amid concerns about its ventilation system.

Mr Sarwar said that a clinician had contacted him about another aspergillus case involving a child cancer patient at the same time on the same ward as Mr Slorance.

The clinician told him: ‘Where two patients have died of aspergillus in short order, a [red report] should have been filed... why was this not acted on?’

Mr Sarwar added: ‘A second clinician has told me that, in the last two months, there has been another child who acquired a waterborne infection, like Milly Main, and died. This is gross negligence.’

A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘Our investigation is at an early stage. It would be inappropriate to comment further.’

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: ‘We are deeply saddened by the way in which the commitment and working practices of our staff at the QEUH are being portrayed.

‘When issues or concerns are raised, we will continue to address them in a constructive and robust manner.’

‘Report should have been filed and acted upon’