Inquiry into hospitals scandal must be independent – leader comment

Deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the delay to Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids demand an inquiry that will get to the bottom of what went wrong.

Will Health Secretary Jeane Freeman sort our ailing NHS? (Picture: John Devlin)

If there is one thing certain about the twin scandals involving the £842 million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and the £150 million-and-counting Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh, it is that we need to get to the bottom of what went wrong, why and how we can ensure such problems never happen again.

The QEUH is already the subject of an independent inquiry after the deaths of three patients were linked to hospital-acquired infections, including a ten-year-old boy who died from an infection linked to pigeon droppings after the birds managed to get inside the building. And this month the General Medical Council warned it might withdraw scores of junior doctors from the hospital, saying there were not enough doctors to care for patients properly, making it an “unsafe” place to work.

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Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids hospital was supposed to open in July but Health Secretary Jeane Freeman called a halt at the last moment after it was discovered that – astonishingly, given events at QEUH – the ventilation system in the critical care unit did not meet national standards. The hospital is now said to need an extra £16 million of work to bring it up to scratch and its opening has been delayed until next year.

So the Scottish Government’s decision to hold a public inquiry into “vital issues” relating to ventilation and “other key building systems” at both buildings is without a doubt the correct one. And it can take some credit for that.

But, as always, the devil is in the detail and the public will want to be reassured that the inquiry will have the necessary expertise and resources required to do the job. And it is also important that it is clearly independent of political influence, with its make-up supported by the main political parties.

A public inquiry that can be criticised as a cover-up or a whitewash is hardly worth holding. What Scotland needs is the unvarnished truth, however unpalatable or damaging to reputations of the great and good.

Freeman was only appointed as Health Secretary in June last year, so has inherited many of the problems with the two hospitals and also the wider health service. She will make or break her own reputation depending on how she handles them. The NHS is a much-loved but ailing institution and we really need someone to sort it out. It remains to be seen if Freeman is that someone.