Health board take legal action against contractor amid infection concerns at Glasgow hospital
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has instructed legal action be taken against a private contractor involved in building the crisis-hit Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).
Health board bosses have recommended starting court proceedings against construction firm Brookfield Multiplex amid infection concerns and in the wake of children dying in the hospital.
At an NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) board meeting on Tuesday, chief executive Jane Grant revealed lawyers have been instructed to prepare legal action against the contractor “as a matter of urgency”.
Papers seen by the PA news agency, which the health board failed to publish ahead of the meeting, recommend board members “accept the legal advice received and require the Chief Executive to instruct MacRoberts LLP to act on the Board’s behalf to raise appropriate Court proceedings as a matter of urgency.”
Responding to news of the legal action, Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour MSP for Glasgow, said: “This hospital was commissioned by the health board, the building was overseen by the health board, it was signed off by the health board despite warnings about the high risk of infection, it was opened by the health board and the infections scandal was subsequently covered up by the health board.
“If senior managers are now accepting there were problems with the hospital, who is going to take responsibility for opening it and putting patients at risk?
“At the heart of this scandal is not a contractual arrangement, but a catalogue of failings and a cover-up by hospital managers which led to a child losing their life.”
NHS GCC was escalated to stage four of the NHS Board Performance Framework by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman last month following its response to the infection scandal, with two children believed to have died in an affected ward in 2017.
In Scotland, a five-stage scale is used to show the level of oversight for stricken health boards.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “This is a significant development and is confirmation of the very serious concerns over the design and fabric of the building at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
“It’s important that the public inquiry Scottish Labour pushed for gets to the bottom of this once and for all – including what the health board knew at the time the hospital was signed over.
“But most importantly, the public needs to have confidence that this building is safe for patients now.”
She added: “Parents and families of patients currently at the Queen Elizabeth continue to raise concerns and Jeane Freeman must act to escalate the board and move aside the current leadership.”
Miles Briggs, the Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said: “This is another depressing twist in a sorry saga, created by the SNP Government’s mismanagement of a major hospital building project.
“This legal action will not reassure patients or staff or reduce the chances of infection at the hospital.”
Raising the prospect of further action concerning the long-delayed opening of the children’s hospital in Edinburgh, he added: “If Multiplex has also failed to deliver on their contract of building a safe new hospital at the Sick Kids in Edinburgh, which there is a strong argument for, then NHS Lothian should not rule out similar legal action.
“SNP ministers have shown a total inability to manage the contracts for the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, and it is a travesty that we are in the position that we are.
“Millions of pounds that could have been gone into lifesaving treatments and reducing waiting times is being lost every month because of this fiasco.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “The decision to take legal action is entirely a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board.
“We understand that the board intends to take the action against those responsible for delivering the building project as a matter of urgency.
“The Scottish Government and the board are committed to making progress in tackling critical issues of importance to patients and their families with the fullest possible level of transparency.
“Subject to the need to maintain the confidentiality of reports prepared with a view to legal proceedings, we have been clear with the board that we expected any relevant reports to be published as soon as possible.”
Copyright (c) PA Media Ltd. 2019, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Jane Barlow / PA Wire.
