The Scottish government received notifications about 14 serious infection outbreaks at the £1 billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow during its first three years of operation, yet officials took no action on these critical warnings.
These red and amber health alerts, issued between 2015 and 2018 by health board leaders, occurred as infected patients, including children and adults, faced life-threatening illnesses and deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) campus. According to newly obtained documents, officials in the health department were legally required to be informed of such incidents.
Then-Health Secretary Shona Robison, whose department received these alerts, did not intervene or launch an investigation into the outbreaks. This information intensifies scrutiny on First Minister John Swinney, who maintains that the government first learned of significant infection problems at the hospital in March 2018—nearly three years after the initial alert.
Timeline of Warnings and Government Response
The disclosures emerge shortly after accusations that Swinney misled the Scottish Parliament by denying political pressure to open the QEUH prematurely. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar described the findings as evidence of deception, stating: ‘If the Scottish Government received 14 red or amber Healthcare Infection Incident Assessment Tool (HIIAT) infection alerts between 2015 and 2018, many involving immunocompromised patients, then the claim that ministers only became aware of serious infection problems at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in March 2018 becomes another proven lie from the SNP. These warnings exist precisely because lives are at risk.’
Sarwar further emphasized: ‘This revelation makes clear that the Scottish Government were made aware of concerns at the QEUH long before they claimed, despite that they failed to act and continued to lie to patients and families. The pattern of denial, deception and cover-up at the very heart of government has moved beyond normal political scandal and become an inhumane disregard for these patients and their families and the memories of the victims.’
Under Scottish NHS infection control protocols, outbreaks in healthcare settings must be logged using the HIIAT system, with incidents classified as green, amber, or red based on severity. The government’s health and social care department receives notifications for all red and amber cases to ensure proper assessment.
Specific Incidents and Patient Impacts
The QEUH, which opened in 2015 at a cost of £842 million for the hospital campus, has been linked to infections possibly tied to its contaminated water supply and ventilation system. Recent admissions by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) confirm a probable connection between water issues and infections in some child cancer patients between 2016 and 2018, though the health board disputes broader links.
Independent experts have reviewed 84 children’s infections, with about one-third potentially related to the hospital environment. Ongoing probes include a corporate homicide investigation into the deaths of four patients—Milly Main, 10; Gail Armstrong, 73; and two other children—at the QEUH and Royal Hospital for Children (RHC). Police are also examining the deaths of Andrew Slorance, 49; Tony Dynes, 63; and Molly Cuddihy, 23.
Key alerts included:
- October 2015: Two red reports—one for Serratia marcescens affecting 13 babies in the pediatric intensive care unit, prompting checks on ventilators and sinks, enhanced cleaning with chlorine, and consideration of unit closure; another for a bloodborne virus at the QEUH.
- 2016: Three amber reports at the RHC and one at the QEUH, including aspergillus mold in two children on the cancer ward, where ventilation issues were already noted, and another Serratia marcescens outbreak affecting three babies.
- 2017: Three red reports at the RHC and one at the QEUH, plus two amber alerts. A March report highlighted increased fungal infections on the RHC’s child cancer ward (2A). In July, two patients, including 10-year-old Milly Main—who was in leukemia remission—contracted Stenotrophomonas maltophilia; Main died from the infection.
- March 3, 2018: A red report for Cupriavidus and pseudomonas infections in two children, with notes indicating prior water testing detected Cupriavidus in 2016, and some sinks and showers tested positive for pseudomonas.
These 14 incidents before March 2018 involved examinations of water and ventilation as potential sources.
Calls for Accountability
Nicola Sturgeon served as First Minister and Shona Robison as Health Secretary from 2014 to June 2018, encompassing the hospital’s opening and the period up to Swinney’s claimed awareness date. Robison has not been questioned about her knowledge or inaction. Last week, it surfaced that she canceled a promised independent audit of infection controls weeks before the opening, despite earlier assurances to MSPs in February 2015.
Former Health Secretary Alex Neil noted that he received HIIAT reports based on severity, adding: ‘There’s a need for Lord Brodie to put the relevant ministers and special advisors from 2015 on the stand under oath to establish what they knew as well as the people within the health board who we’re putting on internal pressure to open the hospital. Either ministers were told and chose to do nothing, or they were not told and the system was deliberately allowed to fail. At best it is negligence, at worst it is a criminal conspiracy—either one caused death and avoidable suffering. This sickness at the heart of this SNP government must end.’
The Scottish Government has not responded to questions about whether Robison or others were informed of these HIIAT reports, who received the notifications, or what actions followed.
