Government blasted over 'too narrow' C diff probe

Published on Friday 4 September 2009 21:23

THE Scottish Government has been accused of attempting to "straitjacket" an inquiry into a deadly hospital bug outbreak.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced that a public inquiry into Clostridium difficile will focus on the outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire last year, which resulted in 18 deaths.

It can "refer" to other cases in Scotland – but opposition parties say this is too narrow and called for it to be widened.

Labour's Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie said: "Nicola Sturgeon's attempt to straitjacket the public inquiry into C difficile suggests she is afraid of the truth."

Nine people died from C difficile over a six-month period at Vale of Leven and the bug contributed to nine other deaths.

It emerged this year that it also killed 18 patients at Glasgow's Gartnavel hospital in 2008. Elgin's Dr Gray's Hospital stopped admitting patients to two wards in May after two elderly patients died, while C difficile contributed to two deaths in Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney, at the start of the year.