The father of a child who was being treated for cancer at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) has told how a cleaner warned him tap water on the boy’s ward was not fit for animals.
David Campbell claims it was an open secret among staff, including nurses, as far back as 2018 that insanitary conditions at the Glasgow site were potentially lethal for vulnerable patients.
He was shocked to be told by the orderly, ‘I wouldn’t let my dog drink the water in here’, while nurses warned him: ‘It won’t be the cancer that kills your child, it will be an infection.’
Police and the Crown Office are investigating seven deaths at the QEUH and neighbouring Royal Hospital for Children (RHC), which could lead to prosecutions for corporate homicide. Victims include Molly Cuddihy, 23, ten-year-old Milly Main and two other unnamed children.
Meanwhile, the Hospitals Inquiry chaired by judge Lord Brodie is continuing to probe the scandal that saw patients treated in buildings where the water and ventilation systems were apparently fatally flawed.
Mr Campbell, whose son James survived his ordeal, has given evidence to the inquiry and has now relived some of his experiences at the QEUH and RHC.
He told the Sunday Times: ‘I first heard there were concerns about the tap water on the children’s cancer ward from a cleaner. My four-year-old son James had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2018.
‘We had not been on ward 2A long when a cleaner suggested I ask for bottled water. “I wouldn’t let my dog drink the water in here,” she told me. There were signs on the bathroom doors saying the shower should be run for five minutes before use.
David Campbell with his son James, who was treated for cancer at the QEUH
Police are investigating the deaths of patients who are thought to have acquired infections at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
‘Other families said they weren’t cleaning their children’s teeth using the taps at sinks.
‘While the nurses were brilliant with James, it was hard to secure answers about water safety, so we started the bizarre routine of washing him with mild wet wipes and cold bottled water brought from the hospital’s Marks & Spencer store.
‘The nurses warned us: “It won’t be the cancer that kills your child, it will be an infection”.’
Soon after, the children’s Schiehallion Unit was closed without official explanation, and James was relocated to an ill-equipped ward in the main hospital, designed for adults.
He said: ‘There seemed to be a number of children falling seriously ill. A Facebook group was set up [by parents], but when it appeared, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had planted a member to monitor the chat.
‘We had to move forum. Amid the turmoil, I wrote to Jeane Freeman, then Scottish health secretary, who told me she had spoken to Jane Grant, then NHSGGC chief executive, and they were monitoring the situation.
‘There have since been many more emails to people who could have helped, but didn’t.’
He also recalled that his son and other children were given anti-fungal drugs, only later realising they were not a common component of cancer treatment.
Kimberly Darroch with her daughter Milly Main, 10, who died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in 2017
Mr Campbell, 48, of Balloch, Dunbartonshire, said his trust in NHS management and the government has been ‘destroyed’ and the ‘lack of remorse’ from senior managers at NHSGGC has been ‘staggering’, adding: ‘It shocks me that no one has lost their job over what happened.’
NHSGGC has admitted it was likely the water supply had caused fatalities but added: ‘Pressure was applied to open the hospital on time [April 2015]... It was not ready.’ First Minister John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon – who was FM in 2015 – deny leaning on the health board.
